


Chanpionzu no Nozomi

by BinaryCoding



Series: Chanpionzu Series [3]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: F/M, i'm so sorry if you wanted actual SDR2/DR content you're not going to find it here, there are A LOT of OCs here, this is original content set in the DR world i'm sorry, tw gore, tw torture, very much an Ultra Despair Girls kind of fic, we reference Mad Max a LOT but only in the latter half-ish of the plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 44
Words: 30,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23761840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BinaryCoding/pseuds/BinaryCoding
Summary: Do You Remember the previous fic? if not, I would highly recommend reading Chanpionzu no Gakkōu for the context behind this series.After the killing game, the survivors find themselves in Piketon, a city ravaged by The Tragedy. There, fighting both the forces of Ultimate Despair and the Future Foundation, our survivors find out the mastermind behind Piketon and their school's Killing Game might be the same person... and that Piketon is more of a mess than they could ever imagine.
Series: Chanpionzu Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/308751
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue 1: Still Hanging On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which our previous mastermind is... still alive... and had a canon interaction with kamakura. apparently. welcome to the canon

I cough.

“Motherfucker that hurt.”

“Well what would you expect?”

“Well I knew it would hurt! But not this much. Besides, I don’t think you’re allowed to talk, with your superior pain tolerance after all, Kamukura-kun.”

“Whatever, you’re boring life is of no matter to me. I have places to be after all.”

“Oh? Like speaking with Enoshima-chan?”

“Enoshima is dead.”

“Do you think I’m stupid?”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh Kamukura-kun, for being the dear  **pet** of Hope’s Peak Academy, you sure are a  **fuckin’ idiot** . Enoshima is  **very** much alive.”

“How. We all saw her die.”

“Yes. Perhaps, her physical body is gone but I sense she is much like a cockroach. Resilient and a pest. Besides, I doubt she wouldn’t have a backup plan.”

“I’ll take my leave now.”

“Oh? Leaving so soon Kamukura-kun? Well then, I’ll see you around.”

I watch as Kamukura walks away slowly. I smile, I have much more work to do, after all, these killings I instigated, they weren’t for my own benefit anyway. It was all simply just a small inconsequential little game for my bored mind, that’s all. I yawn and leave from a different exit than Kamukura, he’s planning to stay in Towa City, but I have other plans after all. I suspect that a play will be made soon. Attracting all the remaining Ultimate Despairs to Towa City. I’ll wait until then. I have bigger plans after all. Those  **three** will for sure find the Future Foundation. They’ll train hard and try and be heroes and save the world. Personally, the result of that is unimportant to me. After all, I’m just a failure of a mastermind to the world.

“Upupupu~Don’t worry, Kamukura-kun, Kevin-kun has  **very** big plans...fitting of the Ultimate Intellectual, and an Ultimate Despair too! Ahahahahahahaha!”


	2. Prologue 2: Enter Future Foundation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which we introduce the Future Foundation and we Expose ourselves
> 
> while all of this was uploaded during the March-May Covid-19 quarantine, this was technically finished nearly 4 years ago, in 2016. the first chapter's upload date should reflect this. everything else is being uploaded In Real Time baby!!!

Despair.

It’s a simple word really, but what that single word has caused, the damage is insurmountable.

I break the door open, the place is old, run down, mold and grime scarring the walls and floors. Serves this horrendous place right. The natural light of the sun shines in through rotted walls and broken windows, this place has been looted for sure after it shut down. The place is barren, shreds of posters or decor hang solemnly from the walls and the tiles on the floor are cracked, small insects crawling all around.

“Move out!” my team leader barks as I and the four other members of our squad charge down the dilapidated stairs that lead to that place. My colleague smashes the door open and I see it, I walk cautiously and jump slightly when I step on a monochrome bear plushie. I kick it away in disgust and move forward, my squad members slowly dragging out of the center of this room, bodies, and more than one at that. Seems like those  **three** were correct.

“How many bodies are there?” the squad leader asks.

I look over the burned and scarred bodies as we begin labeling them. Their names blur past as I feel a deep anger arising at the lives lost.

“What a waste.” I spit.

“Remember, some of these people were part of Ultimate Despair! Do not feel pity for them!”

“Based on reports, we can’t tell who was part of Ultimate Despair and who wasn’t.” one of my squad members retorts.

I ignore the ensuing argument as I label the last body, “Ultimate Tennis Ace, Future Foundation Member 4631 of the 13th Branch, Squad 236, Team Leader, Rachel Nguyen.”

“How many bodies are there?” the squad leader asks me.

I count, “12, sir.”

One of my fellow members raises a brow, “That’s not right. Only 3 people survived this massacre. There should be 13 corpses.”

The team leader shrugs, “Maybe some of those deranged rioters broke in and destroyed the body.”

“Who's the one missing anyway?”

The captain looks at a roster, “I don’t know, our fight with some rioters earlier burned half of the roster off. Whatever, I’m sure it’s inconsequential.”

I nod in agreement, “Yeah, I guess.”

With that our squad leaves, bringing the burned corpses of the victims of this tragedy. I glance at the dirtied entrance of this place, where emblazoned in black letters, is the name of this horrid building.

“Standley Lake High School”

(Prologue END)


	3. Ray: So Rude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the shsl leader and his lieutenant enter piketon

**BOOM.**

A huge explosion rocked the ground as a building across the street collapsed, sending a dust cloud into the air. I started holding my breath and counted. 1, 2, 3, click. A Ultimate Despair goon dropped to the ground dead. I reloaded my black sniper rifle with red stripes and got ready to shoot again. 

“Ray we have spotted Bonnie on the 5th floor of the parking garage in the northeast.” 

“Thank you Sophia,“ I responded through my earpiece.

It only took me a couple of seconds to point my scope at the 5th floor and spot Bonnie. I began to count 1, a huge smile spread across Bonnie's face, 2 another explosion went off this time in the building I was on top of. My bullet hit the cement 2 feet above Bonnie's head. 

“Damn,” I said. “How did she she plant an explosive on this building?”

“We found 2 UD agents sneaking around the ground floor 5 minutes ago, they must have planted the explosives.” 

A ear piercing metal screeching noise sounded as one side of the building began to collapse. “Shit!” I yelled as I ran to the far side of the roof. 

“What’s my exit?!” I shouted.

“There is a wire that connects your room to the building on your left, I set up a handle so you can zipline across, but hurry Ray, the whole building is going down.”

The next moment I felt the rest of the building began to collapse. I sprinted towards the cable and threw myself onto the handle. The second my feet were above the other building I let go and rolled to minimize the pain of my landing. The cable I had just used snapped as the other building collapsed fully turning into a pile of rubble. 

“Are you ok Ray?” Sophia shouted in a worried voice

“I’m fine Sophia.”

“It looks like Bonnie and her team are heading back to the 2nd District.” Sophia said with a sigh

“Ok everyone let's rendezvous with the rest of branch 21 and head back to HQ.” I ordered, addressing my squad. 

“Yes sir!” My other squad leaders replied.

As we drove back to meet up with my branch I held the briefcase tight. I knew this information was invaluable to the Future Foundation's success.


	4. celeste: return to despair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which i tell you my new job is sorting paperwork and being a bureaucrat while my friends get the fun jobs. also my depression comes back and it SHOWS

The day started out with a nice breakfast of orange juice, a couple of pancakes, and a report from the Future Foundation. I sipped from my glass, looking over the piece of paper.

Ray's squad did well, I suppose, but it'd take a while for them to get back. Thao finished her sparring session, so she should be bound to be here in the generals' room anytime soon, if she isn't flirting with her general. I tapped the table in a little bit of impatience.

Jaymes Malachi, my general, enters. The six-foot seemingly-senior salutes behind me, tanned skin hitting just underneath a mop of dusty black hair. He was probably out on a scouting expedition or something. He glances at me with dark coffee-cream eyes.

"What's the news?" I ask.

"12 bodies. Only the last was identified as a Future Foundation member," Jaymes hands me another paper.

Rachel Nguyen. A thin Vietnamese girl with black-brown eyes and darker hair. Back when we were in the Killing Game in Standley Lake High School, the Ultimate Tennis Ace was a member of the Future Foundation. A "traitor" who was really looking out for us, then brutally murdered by Kevin.

Kevin Han. The mastermind behind the Killing Game, who I've been best friends with since fourth grade. He also happened to kill my father when I was seven or eight. If I wouldn't kill him because the best friend thing mitigated the whole dead father incident, I would kill him for the Killing Game. We stopped him, and he burned.

As I glance through the roster, there's somehow identifying characteristics of burned bodies. I know which are which from the varying injuries from executions and murders and whatnot. The strange thing is when I look more carefully.

"You said 12?" I ask with a bit of hesitation. Jaymes nods. I check the pages. Once, twice. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve.

"Someone's missing. There should be thirteen," I set down my orange juice. Oh yeah. Jaymes has been standing for a good ten minutes. "At ease." I blink. He takes a seat next to me.

"Who?" he asks, looking at the old school roster. I grimace. He should have burned to death, but I can't see a trace of his names on these papers. Which means...

"Kevin Han."

He's alive.


	5. Thao: Sparring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the shortest sparring chapter to ever exist results in an... interesting relationship

I grunted as I fell back against the mat. Jadyn, my sparring partner and general, managed to knock my legs out from underneath me. He smiled down at me, extending his hands. I dismissed his gesture and prepared my fighting stance again, staring down my opponent. Jadyn’s blue mischievous eyes stared back at me, tempting me to make the first move. 

“What’re you waiting for?” he smirked, flicking his wrist.

I growled, throwing my weight into my first punch. Jadyn quickly ducked, immediately going for a flurry of punches. I blocked as many as the blows as I could, attempting to counter-attack his. Jadyn doubled over, surprised, when I landed a kick to his gut. I advanced, going for a round-house kick. Jadyn staggered back, still guarding his face, but not in time for my foot to impact the side of his head. 

He gasped, raising his hands in surrender. Both of us were breathing hard after hours of practice and training. I could already feel my ribs starting to bruise.

“You need to stop thinking and react faster.” He advised. “One second could mean life or death out there.” I knew what he was talking about. Monokumas and Ultimate Despairs roamed around the cities, trying to cause as much despair and terror as they could and they were doing a good job at it, too. 

I waved goodbye to Jadyn and headed towards my room to freshen up for the day. We were going to have a council meeting today to decide what we were going to do next. Ray’s squad had left to battle one of the Ultimate Despair’s villains and should be coming back soon. Whatever information he could get was vital to destroying the Ultimate Despairs.


	6. Kevin: Scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bro, what if i was still alive bro? what if i was still the mastermind bro?? what if i tortured someone for info, bro???

They growl in pain, my knife is buried into their shoulder.

I smile, "I can make you feel better... or I can make you scream."

"You won't hear me scream!" the man snarls, spitting in my face.

I smirk coldly, "I will."

I hold up a small black object, electricity sparks from its two prongs. I shove it into the man, jolting him with thousands of volts.

His screams are music to my ear as I hold my position for a good minute before I release the man, hearing his pained gasps and groans.

"Where is the Future Foundation's HQ?" I inquire.

"I'd rather die than tell that to an Ultimate Despair member like you!" He hisses.

"I'll fulfill your wish then."

More screams.

(1 hour later)

"So you killed the prisoner again?" Someone says.

"I already extracted all information possible." I mutter.

"What do you plan to do with the body?" Another says.

"Send it back to the 9th District, controlled by the Future Foundation."

"You plan to let them bury the soldier?" A third questions.

"No. Place a bomb in it. Might as well take a few other lives." I laugh.

"I'll place a few of my Monokumas there to capture some of the retrievers." A fourth suggests.

"Capture two, send one to me... and send one to Kamukura-kun."

"If he can't break them, no one can." A fifth snorts.

"If he can't, I have a backup plan," my eyes glint in excitement. "It involves your twin, Kenya."

She grins, "Wonderful."


	7. Ray: Council Controversy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which we establish our version of the future foundation: bureaucratically fine, but militarily Awful. and also they won't let us do whatever we want because they think we're going to be hedonistic bastards.  
> they were partially right, all things considered.

I was walking fast through the halls of HQ because I was excited to show the council the information I had retrieved during yesterday's mission. 

“Wait up,” Sophia pleaded, “you're walking too fast.”

“Were almost to the meeting room,” I responded. “Stay outside Sophia only the branch leaders are allowed in the council.”

The red doors swung open as I walked to my seat at the table. All the other branch leaders stared at me as I loudly put the briefcase on the table and opened the clasps. 

“Ladies and Gentleman, yesterday my branch secured the identities of alIl Ultimate despair generals in the city along with their leader's identity.” 

Murmurs broke out around the room as I pulled a flashdrive out of the briefcase. I plugged it into my laptop and typed out a few commands. The names and information popped up on the large screen ending all side conversations. 

“Just as I thought,” Celeste stated proudly, “the leader is none other than Kevin Han.”

Loud protests erupted from around the table. 

“But we all saw Kevin die!” 

“There is no mistake, Kevin Han is leading Ultimate Despair in this city with his generals Bonnie Marinella, Melvyn John, Marianne Darla, Curt Quincey, Terry Bryon, Nicole Adriano, and Kenya Émeric who all control their respective districts.” I firmly stated. 

The other branch leaders briefed each other on their missions and gave updates on the battle.

I walked out of the room after an hour of boring chatter. Sophia immediately fell into step with me. 

“So how did it go?” 

“They didn't take it so well but the information will still prove invaluable.” 

We both entered my room and sat down in chairs facing eachother. 

“What's our next mission?” Sophia asked.

“In a couple days, our branch and Thao's branch are going to jointly siege district 6 and try to eliminate Terry who we just learned is that district's general. For the rest of this week our branch can relax or help other branches as needed.” I explained

We continued talking for a while about the progress of her training. 

“That sounds ni-” Sophia began to say.

A alarm sounded startling both of us. 

“What does that mean?” Sophia asked.

“It means an high level agent is being brought in in bad condition,” I answered.

We both rushed out of my room bumping into each other in the doorway. My elbow poked her boob as we got pushed close together. 

“Oops,” she said as she started to blush.

“Let's go see what's wrong,” I said but as I turned into the hall, a smile spread across my face. 

We got down to the ground level just as Cherilynn was being wheeled in on a gurney. We followed her into the infirmary as our doctor began to examine her injuries.

“What happened to her?” I questioned.

“She tried to fight some UD members and got stuck on a roof with most of its generals.” A nurse answered.

“It looks like she has multiple fingers broken on both hands and a bruised shoulder,” The doctor reported.

“That doesn't sound too bad, how long will she take to recover?” Sophia asked

“It shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks.”

After sitting by Cherilynn’s bed for a while Sophia and I left.

“It's late, I should be getting to bed,” I said. 

“Ok me too.”

“Sweet dreams.” I added.

Then Sophia looked at me with her emerald green eyes and gave me the biggest smile. These simple looks from Sophia could make me happy for days. Before I went to bed I wished Cherilynn a fast recovery. 

“It's amazing how much hope we still have in this messed up world,” I said to myself, then I drifted off to sleep.


	8. Kevin: Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Ultimate Despair has a much better time than we do, also this spoils a plot twist on our end later but That's Okay

"Unfortunate." Bonnie giggles, the body of the soldier I tortured laying in the empty plaza of the 9th District.

"They're sending 8 agents." Marianne informs as she adjusts her headpiece, hacking the communications of the Future Foundation.

Bonnie waves a detonator, "Ooh! Six more people to slaughter! Ahahahahaha!"

Curt shrugs as he readies a can of chemicals.

The 8 Future Foundation squad members crept into the empty plaza, scouting around the area.

Bonnie sets off an explosive in the distance and as expected, the 8 split into 4, one group retrieving to body, another finding the source of the sound.

As the retrieval group grab the corpse of their comrade, Bonnie cackles loudly. The 4 turn their heads towards Bonnie as she dances on a roof of a nearby building. A loud explosion rocks the plaza and Melvyn trips and falls off the roof from the shockwaves.

"Goddammit." I roll my eyes.

Burning flesh rains down as the 4 members looking to find the source of the explosion turn back in confusion, before an arrow pierces through the head of one of them. On a roof on the building across the plaza, Kenya stands, loading another arrow into her bow. Terry appears next to her, smiling insanely as he takes off his top hat, releasing a flock of doves who fly over the 3rd member dropping grenades clutched in their claws, the resulting explosion blasts the two remaining soldiers forward where Curt sighs in boredom, chucking his can into the fray. It clanks next to them, smoke rising from the can. The two soldiers choke as their eyes roll into their heads and they pass out. Flipping across the plaza, Nicole grabs the two of them and takes off, dragging the two as gunshots shoot across the plaza, a Future Foundation squad, expecting a trap, roll in, guns blazing. Nicole throws the two captives into a nearby alley and begins flipping and rolling, dodging the bullets skimming past her. I pull out a harness and throw it into the alley where the captives are as Melvyn latches them on as I pull them onto the roof with us. I drop the harness once more as Melvyn hooks himself onto it. I pull him up as he whips out his shotgun and begins firing into the mass of soldiers. Nicole disappears into from the plaza, presumably to climb another building. 

"Fire!" Kaitylnn Sarah, known general of the Future Foundation and general annoyance shouts as a soldier shoots a rocket in our direction.

"How 'bout fuck that!" Bonnie cackles as she throws one of her own bombs at it, exploding it in midair.

An arrow with a rope attached to it sinks into the roof and Cherilynn Émeric of the Future Foundation lands on the roof her crossbow brandished. She charges us and Nicole appears from another building, grabbing the girl and flipping her over, smashing her into the roof. Cherilynn growls and kicks Nicole off of her, sending Nicole over the edge. She reaches for her dropped crossbow but I smirk and step on her fingers, applying pressure as she screams in pain. The cracks of her fingers causes Kenya to chuckle as she jumps from the neighboring building.

"Hey sis." Kenya smugly smirks as she crushes Cherilynn's other hand.

Cherilynn screams once more in agony as Kenya twists her feet, grinding the hand.

"So...is the plan supposed to happen now?" Kenya asks.

"I suppose so." I shrug.

As if on cue, bullets shower the roof which now holds all of us. A bullet tears through my arm as I growl and a bullet rips through Kenya's leg as she gasps. Some of the other generals also make various noises, signifying pain.

"Bonnie cover us!" I shout.

I grab Kenya's bow and Bonnie attaches an explosive to it. I fire it into the mass and as the smoke rises up from the explosion, we make our escape dragging our two unconscious hostages, leaving a whimpering mess of Cherilynn Émeric and the Future Foundation behind.


	9. celeste: relationships and not caring about them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which me being ace really shows, also somehow i'm a hacker now.

The meeting had ended on a sour note that left a bit of bile in my mouth. I knew the corpse retrieval was too good to be true, and look what happened. Cherilynn was injured severely, Kaitlynn was minorly injured, the other members of the squad were dead and/or captured, and I had to deal with a bit of a problem already.

"Yeah, I'm chasing the worm down," I relayed into the headset I was wearing, typing code in. Someone from Ultimate Despair was hacking us, at the moment only stealing the audio microphones in our cameras from us. Damn, this virus was protected.

Thao was off with her general, Ray was sleeping, and I was chasing a virus through the system. Jaymes was up for late-night training, so I really had nothing to do besides. The worm finally gave up, and I watched with a smug grin as it was wiped out of the mainframe.

"Thank God," I sighed, taking the headset off. The knife teleporting around my throat scared the hell out of me.

"If you were a member of Ultimate Despair you would be dead," Jaymes said from behind me. I groaned with a smile.

"Come on, dude, I want to sleep knowing I won't be assassinated in my sleep," I said jokingly, getting up out of my chair. He laughs a little bit.

"Of course. I'm patrolling our branch's bunks anyways. Nothing will get past me," he said with a finger to his chin in thought, "unless they're trying extremely hard."

"But you're the Ultimate Assassin."

"Exactly. Nothing gets past me when I choose them as a target."

I shrugged. Fair enough. Thao would probably swoon if her general said that. Thank the Lord I don't care.

"Okay, I'm going to sleep then. I trust you have the assignment for tomorrow?" I ask. He nods.

"Yep. Nothing more than scouting and evacuating little parts of the Central District." The commerce hub had been trapped with so many people inside it could have been another city. If Ultimate Despair kept hitting it, supplies would be burned and people with them. It was better to get at least a few of them out.

"Good night, then," I say, turning the corner and disappearing into my room. My bed is easily the most appealing thing in a room filled with papers and reports I've read eight times over, so I collapse in the general area and sleep.


	10. Thao: Creepin' on Hot Generals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is truthful to my friend's artistic vision. i'm so sorry you have to read this chapter title
> 
> as kevin puts it: THAO AND RAY ARE THE TWO DOING THIS

As soon as I heard about Cherilynn, I rushed to the Medical Ward. Cherilynn was the only person who had treated me like a sane person when I arrived, despite what happened during the Killing Game. Kaitlyn Sarah's branch had gone out to retrieve one of their fallen members, but it ended up being a trap set up by the Ultimate Despairs.

I gasped, taking in Cherilynn's appearance. "Cherilynn!"

She turned her head at the sound of my voice, smiling weakly. "Hey."

"Who did this to you?" I clenched my fists. "Was it Kenya?" Cherilynn turned away at the mention of her sister's name. It was a touchy subject, but we had to talk about it.

"We didn't get Corporal Dave back," she whispered, looking at her useless hands. Anger rose in her voice. "They blew his body up."

"We'll get them back." I replied with conviction. "They'll get what they deserve sooner or later." 

"It's still hard seeing Kenya on their side, y'know? I just don't get why she would join their side and would do this to me," Cherilynn raised her left(?) hand. "It's that stupid, manipulative bastard's fault, Kevin."

I nodded in agreement with her. I knew firsthand how persuasive Kevin could be. It was his fault for the deaths of those 12 freshmen two years ago. All in the name of despair.

I got up to leave. "Feel better, okay? I'll be back later." 

Ray and I have a meeting in a couple minutes to discuss what we were going to do about the Ultimate Despair in District 6, Terry Bryon. With the help of one of my agents, we were able to find out that Terry was behind all the attacks on the Central City.

Ray and his general were already seated at the table when I walked in.  **“** Loerke. Zane.” I greeted with Jadyn in tow.

**“** Tran. Blaine," he addressed. “Let’s get to it. We’ve been tracking Terry’s movements for the past couple days and we know he’s the one who has been causing all the problems and despair. We need to remove him as quickly as possible. If we don’t, we risk losing our center of commerce.” As he was talking, he laid out a map on the table.

“So, I’m guessing the red X is where Terry is?” Ray looked at me, unsure if I was joking or not. “Kidding. I’m not  _ that _ stupid. I’ll have my branch surround him and you have your guys’ snipers aimed at the compound.”

Ray nodded. “You and I will stick together. I don’t want what happened to Cherilynn to repeat again.” 

“Sounds good.” I turned towards my general. “Report the plan to the squad members. We’ll be leaving in a couple hours, make sure everyone is prepared. I’ll finalize the plan with Ray.”

“Sophia, help him make sure everything is in order.” Sophia obeyed, following Jadyn across the room.

After they were out of hearing range, I leaned over to Ray, whispering. “Bet you had a nice view with her boobs popping out like that.” Sophia proved my point when she leaned over Jadyn’s shoulder to grab her headpiece. She wore a black scooped v-neck top, allowing more than a handful of her chest to show.

“Oh shut up,” Ray laughed. “It’s not like you’re any better. I heard you and Jadyn were ‘sparring’ again. Nice hickey, by the way.” He pointed at a spot near my neck.

Hearing his comment, my hands automatically reached up. “It’s not a hickey.” Jadyn had took a jab at my throat. “You’re stupid if you can’t recognize a bruise.”

Ray just smiled. “Right. Sure.”

I groaned. He was never going to believe me. “Whatever. Just plan this attack al-Hey! Eyes on this map, not on her.”

“You gotta admit, they’re nice to look at.”

“I’ll admit that if you admit Jadyn has a hot body. Did you see his washboard abs?”

“What the fuck, Thao? Washboard abs?”

“What? You don’t like that? How about... chocolate abs?” I laughed. Messing with him was just too easy. Celeste, Ray, and I have gotten a lot closer in the past two years. In those past two years, I managed to get along with Ray without fighting every 5 seconds. It was nice.


	11. Ray: Die Bitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which our shsl leader captures a UD general

Our convoy stopped just outside of district 6 so we could split our branches into squads and go over the plan again. 

“Ok, squad 2 and 3 set up on those low rooftops over there. Everyone in Thao’s branch, surround the compound, but stay a block away until I give the signal. Thao, you come with me and my first squad. We are entering the compound first. Understood?” 

“Yes sir!” the 80 or so agents echoed.

After about 5 minutes all our agents were in position and ready to begin. 

“It's too quiet,” Thao said, “something is wrong.”

Just as she said this, gun fire erupted from the upper windows in the compound. Some of Thao's agents still not in cover fell to the ground dead as chaos broke loose.

“FIRE AT WILL!!” I shouted as a volley of bullets hit the compound. 

“Squad 2 and 3, aim for the windows on the top floor!” I ordered “Thao's branch, advance to your next cover.”

“Let's run to that ally on the count of 3, ok? 1,2, 3!” 

Our squad sprinted to the other ally but the last agent was shot in the head, their body slamming into the road. A look of anger filled Thao as she looked at the fallen agent's body.

“THAO WAIT!!” I began to scream but it was no use.

Thao ran from behind cover and charged at the compound's doors. I followed her after scanning the compound's windows. Before I got to Thao she flung herself over a pile of rubble and threw 2 shurikens at 2 UD agents guarding the doors. With 2 quiet thuds the guards fell to the ground, instantly dead. 

“Thao, let's do this as a team.” I pleaded.

She looked back at me and stopped running. “Ok.”

An agent attached an explosive to the door and blew it off its hinges. I motioned for Thao to stay behind me as we slowly entered the compound. 

“Report.” I said into my earpiece.

“We have about 10 casualties and the UD agents have stopped firing through the windows.” 

“Ok watch the building’s exits and make sure we have a clear escape route in case things go south.” I ordered.

So far, the main corridor was empty, with trash littered around. The lights on the left side were flickering, showing off the chipped blue paint on the walls.From out of the right corridor a monochrome bear appeared. Knowing too much about these cute monsters I pulled out my pistol and shot it 6 times in the chest. The creature crumpled to the ground. 

“Better safe than sorry.” I said as I reloaded 

The gunfire was starting to become more infrequent as more and more UD members were killed. We moved through the first floor, killing stragglers here and there until we reached the stairs. 

“He is probably on the the second floor so be careful guys.” I advised. 

The moment I stepped on the stairs a razor shard card cut off the tip of my boot. 

“Hahahahahahahaha!" came from the second floor.

I threw a grenade over the railing above me and charged up the stairs, Thao close behind. The grenade went off right before we reached the top of the stairs. Some UD soldiers had dived out of the way of the grenade but Thao took care of them. 

“Fire has completely ceased from the top floor sir.” One of my squad heads reported.

“Everyone but Thao, go up to the third floor and capture any UD soldiers still alive.” I told our squad

After everyone left me and Thao came up to a large double door. We simultaneously opens both doors ready to shoot at anything that moved. Inside the large room with his back turned stood Terry. 

“How nice of you to finally join me.” He said as he turned around. 

Thao threw 2 shuriken at his chest trying to catch him off guard. He swung his cloak around deflecting the projectiles with ease. I shot at him twice with my pistol while he dived behind a table. A small pop sounded and a cloud of smoke arose filling the room. I fired blindly into the smoke hoping for a lucky hit. After a few seconds past a razor sharp card flew past me slicing my left arm. 

"Oww!" Thao said as a card sliced her leg. 

When turned back towards the cloud of smoke Terry was charging at me. He slammed into me knocking us both to the floor. He pulled out a knife and tried to push it into my chest.

"A little help Thao?" I said through clenched teeth. 

Another shuriken flew through the air, knocking the knife out of his hand. I managed to get a hand free while Terry was distracted by Thao. My hand found the knife and plunged it into Terry's leg. With a scream he rolled off of me clutching his leg. Thao casually walked over and slammed the butt of her pistol into his head knocking him out cold. 

"I think it's time for Terry to answer some of our questions."


	12. Kevin: Trap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which our mastermind has more fun making us suffer

“They got him.” Marianne sighs as she taps into the Future Foundation’s communications, hearing their celebrations at having captured an Ultimate Despair.

“Unfortunate.” I mutter.

“What do we do?” Marianne asks.

“I think it’s time to pay a lil’ visit to our prisoner, no?” I laugh.

“Aaagh!” he screeches as I press the taser deeper into his side.

I release as he pants in exertion.

“I’m assuming that you won’t be disclosing any information will you? It’s been nearly a week of consistent torture after all.”

“You bet your ass I won’t be disclosing any infor-”

With that I picked up an axe and decapitated the useless man and left the room, leaving his body to rot.

“He dead?” Bonnie giggles as I leave the room.

I nod, “Useless, like usual.”

Curt turns to Marianne, “Any word from Kamukura?”

“Yea, the girl’s being sent back, she’s spilled.”

I smirk, “I wonder what Kamukura did?”

Curt laughed shortly, “Wouldn’t we all?”

“I sent Kenya and Melvyn to retrieve her.” Marianne informs me as she types furiously on her laptop.

“Let’s hope they don’t die on the way there.” Curt scoffs.

“Yeah, like Terry,” Nicole spits as she appears from another room, “What should we do about that stupid motherfucker?”

“We follow the policy that Junko Enoshima installed…” I respond.

She raises a brow, “You mean we’re going to-”

“Leave him to die?” I finish, “Well, I doubt that Thao will keep him alive, and if she does, he always has that pill.”

“The one we all have?” Curt says as he pulls out said pill, its black and white exterior shining in the light.

“Yes. Take it, and you’ll be dead in less than a minute.”

“What a invention.” Bonnie muses.

“However, I feel that a certain retaliation is in order.” I smirk, “The Future Foundation should pay for having the audacity to kidnap one of our own.”

Curt laughs, “Agreed, so what method of poison shall we use this time?”

I turn to Marianne, “I’m thinking more of a good old-fashioned trap.”

“I’ve opened my defenses.” Marianne says as she slowly lowers her defenses, allowing the Future Foundation to track her using her electronic signature.

“Good. Where are Kenya and Melvyn?”

“At the doors.” Marianne replies.

  
  


“LET ME GO!” a girl screams and pleads as Kenya and Melvyn drag her into the torture room where the mutilated corpse of her dead comrade lies. She screams when she sees his body and struggles further, until Kenya plunges an arrow into her eye. Her screams increase in volume as blood pours from her wound.

Kenya kneels down next to her, “Scream anymore and it’ll be your throat bitch.”

She whimpers as we surround her.

“Where is the Future Foundation’s location?” I ask sweetly, “I’m sure Kamukura already asked you.”

At the mention of that name, the girl begins screaming again and Kenya brandishes her arrow close to the girl’s throat and the girl begins quieting down once more.

“We know it’s in the 9th District but where.” Marianne asks as she shows a map of the 9th District.

The girl shivers and points to a certain place which Marianne marks.

I turn to Curt, “Go with Melvyn and make sure the place is right, if it’s wrong…”

I turn to Kenya, “Take a few fingers.”

She grins, “Hope it’s wrong…”

As Curt and Melvyn depart and Kenya watches menacingly over the prisoner, Marianne, Nicole, and I move out as well, leaving Bonnie to protect our HQ.

“They know my location.” Marianne states as she types on her laptop.

“Good. Lure them to the 4th District. Nicole and I will be waiting there, along with the army of Monokumas under my control.”

“What about the others?” Nicole asks.

“Once we’ve lured them in, Bonnie and Kenya will leave base and join us and we’ll see if Curt and Melvyn have returned or not to see this go down.”

“Excellent.” She smirks, “I hope I get to break some fuckers.”


	13. celeste: hope you make it to the other side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which i suffer. a lot. also the question at the end of the chapter is answered in a side story which I will post after this. i'm more attached to those characters than jaymes. it be like that

Jaymes and I are perched at the top of the roof. Another member of our small squad sets down her spotter.

"Thirty clicks from the last location. Might have to travel some rubble," she grimaces, "and the place looks regular. Shelter's out here for sure."

"Ah," I muse. "That's good. Keep tracking her location. We have her."

The "her" in question is Marianne Darla, the Ultimate Communicator. Logic here? She can't relay orders if we take her out, thus making it easier to take out the rest. She might also have info in her computer that we can send to the Future Foundation.

"Moving south-west. Stopped," our tracker says again. I nod to Jaymes.

"Let's move. We have her."

"We don’t fucking have her," I mutter to myself as I slice out a Monokuma's eyes, flipping over the monochrome bear and taking off its head. A large four-legged Monokuma rams into Jaymes and he parries, slicing it in half. Again, why I don't mess around with the generals.

Someone flips over the horde of Monokumas trying to kill us all, lands on one of my soldiers, and breaks his neck with her legs, scissoring and turning his neck at a right angle at least. At least. Nicole Adriano, the Ultimate Contortionist. I'm surprised we haven't called her the Ultimate Gymnast for her just... flipping over random shit.

"Fuck!" I yell, throwing a knife. Nicole flips the body up by the head, letting the knife embed into the chest. "Oh fucking hell!"

“This is a bad idea?” Jaymes remarks, back-to-back as we face the horde of Monokumas.

“This is a bad idea,” I respond, gritting my teeth. Fucking  _ hell _ . We got baited. Jaymes slashes a tunnel through the horde, while I follow, disabling several of them with knives to the eyes. Nicole taunts us by slipping in, disabling random soldiers and leaving them to the Monokumas. I grimace, ignore the screams, and keep running. Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit.

I hit a stopped body and hurtle back, slashing out in the process. A Monokuma is sent back and I manage to open my eyes. A familiar field of blue energy keeps us inside District 4, and the horde of Monokumas and Ultimate Despair with us. I manage to keep a straight face when Nicole flips down just in front of us.

The Monokuma sea parts, revealing two people. One is a girl with dirty blonde hair, tied back in a ponytail. She watches the three of us remaining with cold blue eyes. The other is a face I know very well.

“Kevin Han,” Jaymes challenged. “You didn’t die in the Killing Game after all.”

I glare at Jaymes, before settling on Kevin. The dark-haired Asian looks down on us condescendingly with his dark brown eyes. I cannot  _ believe  _ he used to be my friend, but obviously shit’s gone to hell. Fucking shit.

“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath. “Motherfuckers.”

Jaymes looks down at me before getting into a fighting stance with his sword. “I’ve been looking forward to killing a true member of Ultimate Despair.”

Nicole fumed at that. “What, is the Ultimate Contortionist not giving you enough despair?”

Kevin chuckled. “No, he wants to fight someone who’s spoken to Enoshima-san before. Isn’t that right, worm?”

Jaymes bristled. I glance to the girl who had the spotter before. Taylor, I think? “When will the field come down?”

“It’s only set for about five more minutes,” Taylor pretends not to look scared as she draws out a thin sword. Maybe it’s a tanto or something. Where the hell do all my branch members get exotic weapons?

“Alright,” I look right, and find Jaymes gone. Instead Kevin has a butcher knife, of all the things, clashing against two and a half feet of tempered steel. “And… fuck.” Jaymes slashes outwards with the stance of a practiced warrior, while Kevin dances back. Nicole and Marianne watch in amusement as the two duel. Kevin kicks up some of the ash on the ground and when Jaymes recovers, he’s now clashing against two longswords. A spinning cyclone of whirling blades ensues as the two fight.

“Where the hell do you all get ALL these fucking weapons?” I raise my hands in confusion.

“Future Foundation. We assume there’s an armory in the Second District,” Taylor remarks. “which may be where the weapons are being forged.”

“Who has the time for manual forging?”

“I know, right?” Jaymes grimaces as Taylor says the words. Kevin maneuvers him towards the wall of Monokumas.

“Shit… Jaymes!” I call out. His eyes briefly glance to me and that gives Kevin enough time to knock him back. A Monokuma happily slashes his back.

“Oh fuck!” I curse. Kevin kicks my general’s bleeding body, and Taylor mutters a quiet curse. Sometimes I think I’m giving my sailor mouth to my soldiers. “Why did this have to go to fucking shit?”

Kevin laughs, and a shiver runs down my spine. I don’t let it show. “Well, since I have to let you bring proof of some sort of information…” Kevin throws a paper airplane. I catch it, just barely, and open it. Some sort of page to a dossier, no doubt. I fold it neatly and place it into a pocket. The mastermind isn’t finished though.

“Ah, damn. It’s not fun when someone’s third-wheeling, right? Marianne?” Kevin asks with a gesture. A neat decapitation occurs just to my left and I stumble against the force field in shock. Holy fuck. “Much better.”

Kevin kicks Jaymes’s bleeding body again, letting the senior moan under him. “And take this useless excuse of a human with you. Maybe if you get better at fighting—” Kevin sneers into his ear. “then I’ll be willing to fight you again.” He leaves as the forcefield shatters into sparkling fragments. He glances at me, says nothing, and leaves. Nicole, Marianne, and the sea of Monokumas leave with him. It’s obvious. He looks down on all of us, because he’s just that much of a bitch.

… How the hell am I gonna get a senior all the way to the Future Foundation?


	14. Thao: Relapse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which thao continues to commit war crimes.
> 
> this is a bad running gag, it's just how it is when you write something in 2016

“Sophia, report.” Ray said into his earpiece. He groaned, shifting Terry on his shoulder. “Goddam, this guy is heavy.”

After a pause Ray turned to me and relayed the information he had gathered from Sophia. “At least ten dead, 21 possibly injured.” 

I silently assessed the situation. It wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, but I was still angered by the fact that Terry’s men had obtained the upper hand in the beginning. We should have positioned ourselves faster. We should have been sneakier. We should have done better. Lecturing myself would get me no where, but it was all I could do at the moment without losing my calm. Those men did not deserve to die at the hands of those UDs.

"C'mon, we're almost there." I said, heading towards our van. 

When Ray and I arrived at HQ, we immediately arranged for an interrogation room. We couldn’t risk the chance of him escaping and figuring out the Future Foundation’s location. Before going in, Ray pulled me aside.

“Don’t do anything stupid, okay? You’re barely gained the FF’s trust.”

I threw my hands in the air. “That was two years ago! How was I supposed to know that Rachel was telling us the truth?"

He shook his head in annoyance. “It doesn't matter. You need to control your anger. What you did back there was reckless. We’re supposed to be working as a team.”

I crossed my arms.“Okay, fine. I promise to control my anger. Can we head in now?” Ray nodded his head and opened the door. Terry, who was still unconscious, had been promptly chained to the table. Ray thumped his knuckles on the desk, waking Terry up.

“Well, fuck.” Terry mumbles when he’s aware of his situation. 

Ray doesn’t waste a moment before he goes straight into asking his questions. “Where is Kevin located?”

Terry lets out a humorless laugh. “Like I’m going to tell you that. You’re better off killing me.”

“That won’t be a problem.” I tell him. “Tell us what you know and we won’t have to kill you.”

His mouth curves upward. “You’re lying. I know for a fact that the Future Foundation is against killing. Isn’t it one of their strict rules?”

“How did Kevin escape? He’s supposed to be dead. Where is he?” Ray interrupts, his eyes burning with frustration.

“Sorry to break it to you, but you’re asking the wrong person. I don’t know anything.” Terry’s bravado increases when he answers our questions with lies. This goes on for another ten minutes. We’re getting nowhere. Just like the Future Foundation agents, the Ultimate Despairs were trained not to reveal any vital information to the enemy.

“He’s useless. We’re not going to get anything from him without any torture.” I grumbled. Ray glares at me, a silent reminder that the reason I didn’t have Future Foundation’s trust was because of a certain interrogation method. “I’m just saying. He has an injury.” I point at his leg. “Maybe he—” I’m cut off when Sophia bursts into the room, worried etched on her face. We both turn at the disturbance.

“Something’s wrong. We were supposed to hear from Celeste by now. Her branch‑” Terry uses this distraction as an advantage and somehow escapes his bonds. He lunges at Ray, attempting to grab his gun. I swiftly grab a shuriken, careful not to hit Ray, and throw. Terry only has a moment to react before a star hits his thigh, the same leg Ray stabbed him previously. He staggers to the left, clutching his wound. Another shuriken pierces his chest, killing him.

“Goddammit.” I seethe. The Future Foundation wasn’t going to like this.


	15. Ray: OOPS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which our leader deals with nearly getting killed AND people wonder why the trio are friends

“I have to explain what happened to the council.” 

“What is the point, the punishment for killing in the HQ is banishment.” Sophia argued

“I have to try to persuade the council,” I explained, “I can't let her be banished for saving my life.” 

We approached the red doors and our conversation stopped. I opened the doors to find that I was the last member not sitting at the table. Thao was chained to the end of the table and flanked by two guards. 

“Let me explain what happened during the interrogation today,” Thao pleaded.

“Who cares what happened, you broke a rule and now you must be punished.” Kaitylnn argued. 

“Wait.” I shouted. “She only shot Terry to save my life. He would have killed me but Thao stopped him. Why should she be punished for defending me? I beg the council to give Thao a lesser punishment in light of this.” 

After a lot of arguing the council made their decision. 

“Thao you will be put on probation for a week which means you are not allowed to use any weapons or command your branch. After your probation you must attend 10 hours of mandatory counseling.” 

The chains were removed from Thao’s wrists and the guards left the room.

“Whatever.” Thao muttered as she stormed out of the room. 

“Ok let’s do status reports.” I suggested.

“Well my entire fucking branch got murdered in a huge trap set up by the mastermind, only me and my general survived the ambush.” Celeste said somberly.

“My branch did some recon on district 7 and we found the location of Nicole's base.I suggest we wait to attack it due to our decreased capacity. Once Thao is… back and Celeste reinforces her branch we can stage an attack without leaving our base defenseless.” Kaitylnn reported in a bored tone. 

After some more boring reports and a lecture on "The Evil of Killing" (thanks Thao) the meeting finally ended. As I was walking to my room I passed the training section of HQ. The door to the sparring room was open so I peeked inside, Thao was slamming a bo into a training dummy with the force of a bull. For a final blow Thao brought the bo down on the dummy's head breaking the bo in half. Thao threw the staff aside with an angry grunt. 

"Enjoying yourself, I see." I said smugly.

Thao turned around startled. "Well i'm not exactly in a good mood right now." 

"And why is that?" a grin spread across my face. 

"I should have let Terry kill you." Thao said unhappily as she took a sip of water and sat down. 

"You know the punishment is no big deal, in a week you'll be ordering people around and interrogating UD grunts." I added in a more serious tone. 

"They fucking chained me to the table like I was some UD scum!" 

"They were just taking the situation seriously, we all know you would never attack us."

"It was humiliating!" 

"I know, and I'm sorry you only did it to save my life. Thank you for that by the way... Why don't you go visit the central district for a few days? I'm sure you could find something to do.”

"That's not a bad idea," Thao reasoned.

"Just be careful without your weapons it can be a dangerous place. You could always bring a few guards with you." 

"I can handle myself just fine thank you very much." 

"Woah, just a suggestion." I explained defensively. 

"Sorry Ray but it's been a long day."

"No problem just try not to think about the FF while you're in the central district." 

I genuinely felt sorry for Thao. All she did was stop a scumbag from killing me. I decided not to go to my room, instead I headed to the bottom level. 

"Hey Bob I'm going to take a cruiser and patrol for a bit."

"No problem boss." 

I needed to get what happened off my mind. Almost getting killed had shaken me up a lot more than I was letting on. 


	16. Kevin: Wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which our mastermind schemes

"He's dead." Marianne mutters, "Killed by Thao."

"As expected." Nicole snarks.

"They found the location of your base, Nicole." Marianne informs blankly, "We can't have another situation like Terry's."

"Shit." Nicole spits.

I sigh, "Well, he must have reveled in the bitter despair of death, how unfortunate that it was so sudden and he couldn't have suffered in it longer."

Marianne and Nicole murmur sentiments in agreement.

Marianne's laptop pings and she is on the signal, her face darkening in annoyance.

"What is it?" I ask.

"The location of the Future Foundation base that was given to us by that girl, it's fake."

"Fuckin' shit." I growl.

"It was full of traps that almost killed Melvyn and Curt."

"That girl is going to  **burn** ." Nicole snarls.

Marianne blinks, "Kamukura sent me a message, he can be in the city in an hour or two."

I smirk, "Wonderful, perhaps he can talk some sense into that brainless bitch."

I doodle in boredom as Kamukura deals with the useless info girl from the Future Foundation, her ear-splitting screams distracting everyone from their own personal ventures.

Kenya scoffs, "I wish that guy didn't enjoy doing this so much."

"It's awfully loud." I sigh, a headache coming on.

I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"Her screams are petering out." Curt drones.

I take my earphones out, as do all the other Ultimate Despair members.

The door rips open as Kamukura stalks out, he throws a small bloody plastic bag at us.

"Three fingers." He drones, "That is how many I took."

Bonnie scoffs, "Three fingers? That's how much you did in 6 hours?"

Kamukura blinks emotionlessly as he presses his hands around her neck, strangling her. She croaks and gasps for a few seconds before he throws her against the wall. His eyes meet mine, a small nod and he's gone. I enter the room and find the shivering mess of an agent.

"Ready to talk?" Kenya snarls.

The agent shudders and points at a different location in District 9. I glance at Kenya and she nods, grabbing onto Melvyn as she drags him out to check it out.

"It's right." Kenya states as she reappears in the base, Melvyn in tow.

Curt drags the blindfolded agent out and states blankly, "Get out."

We all smirk as he faces her to a hole in the wall and pushes her to that direction. She sobs and flees, unknowingly running out the hole and plummeting to her death.

"That's the advantage of having a base in a skyscraper." I laugh.

"We do need to get that hole fixed though," Melvyn whimpers, "It's cold at night."

We all give him unimpressed looks and promptly roll our eyes.

"Now, let us proceed to the next stage of our plan." I smile.

"And what is that?" Marianne questions.

My eyes light up in excitement, "We must capture Cherilynn Émeric."

Kenya's malicious laugh echoes throughout the room.


	17. celeste: debating whether or not to sneak under your base and burn all your shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which i almost have a good idea, but then we never use it again and my oc lieutenant gets a backstory spill. i'm so sorry for the long chapter name

God-fucking-dammit Thao.

No, we all thought the insanity ended when we got out of the school, but now she had to go and kill someone. An Ultimate Despair general at that too.

“And they said I was fucking stupid,” I mutter to myself. “But Thao kills an Ultimate Despair general. I wouldn’t even suggest the waterboarding but that could have been a viable option compared to killing the guy.”

Jaymes sighs. I can see his bandages through his shirt, wrapping all around his back. We’ve specifically ordered the higher-ups NOT to retrieve the bodies, we’d just lose more soldiers in the process. I throw my hands up into the air.

“It’s stupid! We have nothing against them-” I pause. Wait.

“Um… Celeste?” Jaymes hesitantly waves a hand in front of my face. I blink.

“The tunnels! We have tunnels. The problem is…” I pause to think again. “Once we use them, that’s another factor both of our sides have to consider. Plus if we don’t defend them, Ultimate Despair can basically destroy us from the inside. But it’s a good idea to use them…”

Jaymes tapped the laptop in front of me. The scan of Piketon’s city map is outlined on it, thankfully not in as bad a condition as the main one the council uses. Dammit Bill. “You have a tunnel map right?”

I nod, pulling it up as an overlay. “Well, it’d be more useful if the Communicator was dead. Even then, the Intellectual could assume there’s tunnels. But it’s definitely a good tactic to use. We just need a strategy.”

“Do we actually have one?”

“The council is against killing. Otherwise you could probably take a couple of jets and firebomb the whole city.”

“That’s insane.”

“I came from a Killing Game school and you say that to me?” 

“Well yeah,” Jaymes says as I write my report. “because most of us were just ordinary citizens who got dragged into it. I didn’t get accepted into the Ultimate Program, and I didn’t want to be.”

“Oh yeah. The whole ‘Ultimate Assassin’ thing kinda killed it, right?” I ask, looking at the report. I have half a page written about the potential use of the tunnels and one out of three different uses for them. “I mean, the headmaster of an Ultimate Program school probably wouldn’t want the Ultimate Assassin in their school.”

“Hey, no one knew,” Jaymes retorts, a bit wistful. “So I didn’t make it known.”

I caught the change in his voice. Time to press the issue further and be an asshole. “And how exactly did you find out?”

He mutters lowly. “A couple robbers broke in one day. So I stabbed them.”

Wait, what?

I voice the exact same thing and he pulls back a little bit. I have two out of the three different uses written down. Hopefully I can keep this report under a page. “I usually keep a penknife on my person and they were too stupid to realize that going in a group would save them. So I just snuck up behind them individually and slit their throats. The last guy was being too loud so I stabbed him before slitting his throat.”

I made some sort of noise between a sigh and a huff. “And you said I was insane. And you also said you were a ‘normal citizen’.”

He sighed as I finished the report. “I said ‘most’ people who joined the Future Foundation in Piketon were normal citizens. Not me.”

I took the page to a random soldier and told him to give it to the council. The man saluted, told me about some new people entering the branch, and then left. I sighed.

“You going to go teach those new recruits?” I asked. Jaymes nodded with a small smile.

“Just because I nearly died doesn’t mean I actually died. Their first activity? Running around the base. At least five miles,” Jaymes said proudly. I laughed.

“You have fun with that,” I said, looking at the roster the man had given me. How many of these ‘normal citizens’ were traumatized now? Entering to stop Ultimate Despair, and yet never expecting the casualties of a full-blown war? How many of these new recruits would die?

The only thing that came after that was the realization that I was going to be responsible for those deaths. And how many of those, I don’t and won’t know for a while.


	18. Thao: Rage, Dates, and Kaitlynn-Bashing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the waterboarding is the least of the problems here.
> 
> just a note: i'm uploading these as they are. some of the bashing we do on Kaitlynn can come off as racist. i'm so sorry.

Two years down the drain. The Future Foundation didn’t understand that I saved one of their own from the Ultimate Despair. It was a good thing I killed Terry, but apparently not. It wasn’t the first time the Future Foundation pissed me off. Ever since I’ve gotten here, they’ve clearly shown me that they didn’t trust me. It took months to be able to have access to their weapons, and even longer to attain my own shurikens. Long story short, they are dicks.

After Ray left, I continued to let out my anger and frustrations on the poor fighting dummies. Kicking aside the broken bo, I grabbed another staff, and imagined one of the dummies as Kaitlynn. Just imagining Kaitlynn’s smug face as she looked at me straight in the eyes and told everyone I should be banished caused my already high anger to increase. I got into the correct stance and swung my bo in a perfect horizontal movement at ‘Kaitlynn’s’ head. The impact was powerful enough that it put a dent in her head and caused my bo to snap in half—again.

“We’re not going to have anymore bo’s if you keep going at it like that,” a voice commented. “Looks like fun.”

I turn around again, assuming it was Ray, but it was only my general, Jadyn. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. Jadyn's blue eyes stare back at me, amused.

“Yeah, it’s really fun,” I agreed. “If you imagine Kaitlynn’s face getting crushed by a bo.”

Jadyn walked over to where I was and examined one of the broken bos. “Damn, you must be really pissed.”

“Just slightly.” I paused to sip some water and catch my breath. “I mean it’s not everyday that you get punished for saving someone, y’know? Not to mention from Terry, a Ultimate Despair, might I add. It’s so frustrating! I should be promoted or something! Okay, maybe not promoted, but… I don’t know‑anything but counseling!”

Jadyn laughed. “The sarcasm coming from you right now. Are you done?”

I grumbled. “Yes.”

“It’s only for a week, Thao.” he tried to assure me. “Then, you’ll be back to bossing the branch around. Imagine it as a vacation.”

“What vacation package involves a counselor?” I complained. “That reminds me, I’m going to the Central District if I can’t do anything around here. I can’t even use any weapons.”

Jadyn’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”

“Since Terry’s dead now, the attacks on the hub should’ve lessened by now. If it hasn’t I could take care of the stragglers.”

“You’re not allowed to command the branch or use any weapons.” Jadyn reminded me, as if I didn’t know already. “I’m going with you.”

“I can use my fists, Jadyn, and no you’re not coming with me. You’re staying here.”

Jadyn stood up, towering above me. His attempt to intimidate me failed since I know I can stand my ground against him. Plus, I’m kind of pissed right now. That anger could easily be used to my advantage. “I’m going with you.”

Of course I would have the stubborn general, too. I craned my neck to look at him. “I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can take care of yourself, but c’mon. I haven’t used this in so long.” Jadyn pulled out his machete. The white blade glistened, a complete contrast from the dark blue hilt. 

“The FF isn’t going to like me taking you with me.” I told him. “They hate me enough as it is.”

Jadyn scoffed, brushing his black hair away from his face. “I’m voluntarily going with you. They have more important things to deal with than a general accompanying their leader. So, yes?”

I laughed, pushing him away. “Get your things packed. I’m leaving in an hour.”

He smiled and backed away. “Okay. See you soon.”


	19. Ray: "SHIT"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the FFHQ is under attack and we take out... like one general. maybe? maybe

“Ray WAKE UP!” 

“What?” I mumbled as I was startled awake.

I saw Sophia standing my bed trying to wake me up. After a few seconds I got oriented and got out of bed. Explosions shook the building and shouting came from the halls, gunfire could be heard below me. 

“What the fuck is going on!” I yelled

“Our HQ is under attack from UD!”

“How did they even find our base?” 

“We don't know.” Sophia answered.

I put in my earpiece and grabbed my favorite rifle off the wall. It sounded like a total war zone outside and in the compound. 

“Status report squad leaders!” I ordered into the earpiece.

“We are currently holding most of Ud’s forces outside the compound but one squad managed to breach the building.” Squad leader 1 reported.

“UD has a dozen transport trucks, lots of high end explosives, hundreds of soldiers, two dozen Monokumas, 4 vehicles with mounted guns and almost every General. Kevin has not been confirmed on sight but he might be here.” Squad leader 2 yelled.

“Let's go kick some ass Sophia.”

We sprinted through the halls until we reached the bottom floor. By the time we got there the UD squad was dead. The second we stepped outside bullets hit the wall to the left of the door. Sophia and I ran for cover behind a concrete shelter. It was complete chaos, UD had formed a line of cover a hundred feet out with their transports and other vehicles. All four mounted guns fired away randomly at our various covers. Our own soldiers ran around firing randomly without any strategy, we needed a leader. I switched my earpiece to a general channel for all FF soldiers. 

“Everyone outside DO NOT try to advance, stay behind cover and focus fire on those four mounted gunners.” I ordered.

For the next half an hour both sides fired on each other wasting ammunition. We were able to stop UD from advancing but we made no headway either. 

“Ray we are running out of ammunition fast.” Sophia yelled over an explosion. 

“Ok squad 1 throw smoke grenades in front of the barricade to give us some cover, Squad 2 on my mark snipe the four gunners, everyone else charge the trucks once the smoke grenades are out, either destroy or drive away as many vehicles as you can. Squad 2 in 3, 2, 1, FIRE!” 

Four shots echoed from the top of HQ behind us and all four mounted gunners fell to the dirt dead. 

“Squad 1 NOW NOW!” 

The smoke grenades quickly filled the area with ghostly white smoke obscuring the enemy's vision. 

“Charge in 3, 2, 1, GO!” 

Everyone on the front lines including Sophia and me charged into the cloud of smoke. After a few seconds of running blind we passed through the cloud and found ourselves mere feet away from the barricade. Knifes were drawn as close range fight erupted along the barricade. Sophia stabbed a UD in the chest while I planted an explosive under what looked to be a munitions truck. The UD soldiers were dropping like flies and it seemed like we were destroying them. Then from out of 3 transport trucks came dozens of Monokumas. They began jumping on our soldiers backs and ripping them to shreds. Sophia and I did our best to help our soldiers but many of our friends perished. I took shot after shot at Monokumas who had climbed onto my soldiers. I looked to my left and saw Bonnie slit a soldier's throat with ease. 

“HEY BITCH LET’S GO!” I screamed at Bonnie trying to get her attention. 

She turned around and locked eyes with me. I pulled out a pistol and fired three shots at her but she dived to the side. As Bonnie hit the sand she threw a small object in my direction, before I could tell what it was it exploded knocking me off my feet. I pulled myself up and checked for injuries, I seemed fine except for a soft ringing in my left ear. When I looked back at Bonnie I was surprised to see that she was charging right at me. I dodged right barely staying on my feet. 

“Hey Ray long time no see.” She said while slashing at me with a small knife. 

I backed away and we started to slowly circle each other. When she made a move I was going to pull out my gun and get her right in the head, if I tried to shoot her now she would only roll behind a truck. We circled for a couple more seconds until she charged at me with her knife above her head. I pulled my other pistol from my holster and pulled the trigger twice click, click.

“SHIT!” I was out of bullets.

Bonnie paused out of confusion and looked at the gun. She started to thrust her knife towards my chest again but I was able to block her knife with my gun. Both our weapons clattered to the ground. Bonnie lunged for her knife but before she got the chance to pick it up I slammed my foot into her chin as hard as I could. Bonnie fell backwards into the sand with a cry of pain. While she clutched her face I grabbed my gun and quickly slipped in a new clip. She looked up at me with her enchanting blue eyes pleading for mercy, which caught me off guard. In that second a vehicle two cars down from us exploded in a cloud of orange flames. Bonnie took this chance to sprint for cover behind the truck closest to us. Before she made it into cover I let off two shot which hit Bonnie in the stomach with satisfying thumps. 

The battle still raged around me while I took a second to look around. The fighting was even now but both sides had sustained heavy losses. Laying on the sand where Bonnie had fallen after I kicked her was a pale brown bag. Inside I found a number of explosives and incendiary devices. I saw Sophia not too far left of me catching her breath. Lying in front of her was a badly wounded Marianne, her shirt was soaked with blood and she was trying to keep pressure on a gunshot to her arm. 

“SOPHIA!” I yelled. “plant these under as many vehicles as you can.”

I threw her the bag with half of the explosives still inside. We both began planting as many explosives as possible along the row of vehicles. After five minutes of this I ran out of explosives and cars to rig. 

“EVERYONE GET AWAY FROM THESE VEHICLES NOW!” I said into the general channel. 

All of the FF soldiers who could still walk sprinted for HQ, some of them dragging or carrying their injured comrades. Most of Ud’s forces hid behind their barricade of vehicles once more, BIG mistake. I pulled a detonator out of my pocket and pressed the side button.

“BOOM!”

The munitions truck, which was filled with explosives, exploded starting a chain reaction that set off the other vehicles. Only 2 transports on the far end of the barricade survived the blast. All of the UD soldiers that had taken cover behind the barricade were now burnt to a crisp. Once the smoke cleared I surveyed the area, I felt sick when I saw Kevin and all of the other UD generals except Marianne appear from behind a sand dune. Bonnie was leaning heavily on Melvyn and Nicole was carrying Kenya. They got into the remaining transports and drove away from our HQ as fast as possible. 

I approached the burnt line of vehicles to check for any survivors. Marianne’s body was lying where it had been before. She was not moving anymore. I turned her body over and found that the blasts had melted half of her face off, she probably would have died anyway. A couple of UD soldiers were dragged into our holding rooms were they would soon meet Thao (when she got back). 

When I walked back into our HQ I found Cherilynn lying on the floor with a huge bump on her head. I shook her until she looked up at me with dazed eyes. 

“Come on,” I said, “let’s go back to the infirmary.” 


	20. Kevin: Trick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the attack comes from a different perspective and this spoils another plot twist. also kevin makes a skyrim reference because this is 2015/2016

“Let’s wreck these bitches.” Bonnie giggles.

The other Ultimate Despair generals and I stare at the heavily patrolled Future Foundation base.

Curt shrugs, “Fuck it.”

With that Curt throws a few cans towards the base, poisonous gas leaking out from the broken cans, suffocating the patrol guards. With them all dead, no one can ring an alarm.

Kenya notches an explosive arrow and aims it at the barricaded entrance. Bonnie readies two bombs. Melvyn reloads his shotgun. Marianne begins disabling some security measures. Curt fills up another spray can as Nicole stretches in preparation. I open a small console and send out a signal. All Monokumas will swarm this area in a few minutes. I count down from 3. As I reach one, our weapons fire. A huge explosion from Bonnie and Kenya rocks the ground, Curt’s poisonous gas following, suffocating any first responders. Alarms began blaring throughout the building as we launch into action. Our soldiers and Monokuma swarming into the area, guns and claws blazing. Kenya and I, escorted by a squad of Bomber Monokumas sneak around the building as the Bombers launch small grenades into the side of the building, creating havoc as Kenya and I take cover behind a junk pile. As the smoke rises, Kenya and I sneak in, successfully infiltrating the HQ. Kenya and I hurry down the hall, Kenya’s arrows piercing any innocent bystanders who see us. I throw a smoke bomb to cover us as we continue to run. In my headset, Marianne drones, “Left and then right. The infirmary should be there.”

“Thanks.” I mutter as I direct Kenya there, I see two Future Foundation recruits looking unsure what to do. Their nervous expressions are immortalized as I throw two knives at them, nailing each in the forehead. I see a bright and cheery sign stating  **INFIRMARY-A** and stop. I throw another smoke grenade for cover and signal some Monokuma to keep any soldiers busy. We throw open the door. Inside there are 10 beds, each with an injured victim and a cluttered group of doctors and nurses. I scan the room as Kenya nails some of the doctors with her arrows.

“Not here.” I groan.

I hear the distant laugh of the Monokuma as Kenya and I bolt from the room. As we reach  **INFIRMARY-B** , I see a group of Monokuma, claws bloody, enter the room, hearing the delightful screams of the slaughter that is occurring.

Kenya rips open the door and scans the room, “FUCK. Not here either.”

I signal the Monokuma once more as two more knives leave my hands and enter into two hapless patient’s heads. As we reach the final room,  **INFIRMARY-C,** Kenya hisses in annoyance.

“Why must my sister  **always** be such a fuckin’ burden!”

I shrug as we open the last infirmary. Inside are 10 very alarmed patients, Cherilynn being one of them, and 20-25 doctors and nurses glancing up in slight terror and surprise. I slide the door shut and smirk.

“Upupupu~. Found you!”

Kenya laughs as three arrows leave her bow, entering the skulls of the doctor checking on Cherilynn and the two patients beside her. She screams in alarm as two more knives leave me and enter into two nurses.The Monokuma smash through the door and begin ripping apart the useless side characters. Cherilynn reaches for her bow and arrow, but winces in pain as she tries to grab her bow. Kenya snickers as she shoots an arrow into Cherilynn’s knee. Cherilynn screeches in pain as I walk up to her and slam her head into the headboard of her bed. Her eyes roll into her head as I rip out the arrow in her knee.

I glance at the Monokuma who pound into the corpses with glee.

“ Monokuma ！デバイスを下にして置きます！スレイはあなたを任意に反対する人！最後の最後に絶望し、純子江ノ島を出そう!”

“Upupupu!” they cackle as they flee the room, blood dripping off their claws. I glance at Kenya who picks up the knocked out Cherilynn. I leave the room as I state to her, “Switch clothes now. And do be quick about it?”

“Can’t believe I have to act and dress like this stupid bitch.” Kenya grumbles.

I wait outside the room until she gets out carrying Cherilynn.

“Give her to me.” I state. “And injure yourself convincingly so if you raise suspicion, you can blame it on that.”

“Got it.” Kenya states as she slams her head against the wall.

I blink as she rubs her head in pain. She collapses to the ground dramatically and gives me an amused look.

“Good enough?”

I laugh and take off in the opposite direction carrying ‘Kenya’ with me.

I return to the battlefield as I witness Sophia and Marianne fighting, Sophia leaping from truck to truck, her dual pistols firing towards Marianne who dodges out of the way, pulling out her wires and whipping them towards Sophia. Sophia is grazed on the forearm lightly as she dodges away. Her bullets fire towards Marianne again as one grazes Marianne's thigh. Marianne grunts in pain and decapitates a random one-note side character soldier with her wire as he tries to approach, weapon drawn. Distracted, Marianne takes a bullet to the arm. Sophia jumps down from a truck thrusting her knife into Marianne's chest. Sophia smirks in triumph. Melvyn drags me behind a sand dune. In an instant our trucks are blown up. As I rise with the other generals, beside Marianne, who I am informed quite frantically by Bonnie is dead, I see Ray’s face sink. I smirk before I take off with the other generals, carting ‘Kenya’ with us. I get a report from a Monokuma. The devices are planted. The plan is a complete success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> translation for the japanese: Monokuma! Lay down the devices! Slay any who oppose you! Serve despair and Junko Enoshima to the very end!


	21. celeste: ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which i am so, so tired. and it only gets worse as the story goes on

"The reports could honestly have been worse," I think as Jaymes sets a stack of papers on the desk. "and I'm glad I didn't get close to the new recruits."

The reason why is simple: Kevin and Kenya murdered them all. I'd be having a harder time if I wasn't back to screening recruits and stabbing the table. Several dartboards have been ruined out of my nervous knife-throwing. Also nearly took off Jaymes's ear approximately four times, but that's not the issue here.

"What now, O wise and powerful leader?" Jaymes asks sarcastically. "I mean, our branch is now back to roughly two people. The rest are unfit for duty. By that, I mean dead-"

"I know, I know!" My hasty words are punctuated by another knife in the table. "Jesus fucking Christ Jaymes! Shut the fuck up for one moment!"

Jaymes quits his sarcastic tone, obviously shaken by my outburst slightly. "Alright, 'right, jeez. I'm gonna go spar for a bit. Don't kill yourself, alright?"

I nod, glancing at the reports. Too many people, not enough hope. God, now would be a nice time to sleep. I check the time. And why is it almost three in the afternoon? No one knows.

I slam the knife I was clenching into the table. I need to walk, take my mind off of everything. Which I end up doing, taking a walk around District 9.

The walls of the Future Foundation HQ are slowly being rebuilt by soldiers, the metal wreckages of Ultimate Despair vehicles torn apart to patch them up. I eliminated a couple dozen Monokumas in the building, wiped out some more soldiers.

Eh. No one's counting.

The Central District, from what I heard, couldn't be doing better. Or worse, really. Apparently gang wars are going around, and Thao left for the Central District a couple hours ago. Hope she's not killing... wait, no, she's doing that... Hope she's not brutally murdering people. 

Wait, she might be doing that too. Goddammit everyone.

So, to recap the day. Ultimate Despair breaks in, kills a couple hundred people in various ways, Ray's looking at General boobs (whether Ultimate Despair or Future Foundation), Thao's probably off murdering people, and I'm stressed at everything.

Thank God I've reached an abandoned building, because about four of my knives fly at the wall. Yep,  _ fuck _ my life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that second-to-end paragraph? that's a mood. that's also our entire story summed up.


	22. Thao: Mistakes are Being Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which waterboarding is back, baby
> 
> this chapter originally had no title, so i improv'ed one in

“I’m gone one week and this happens,” I snickered. The Future Foundation was still repairing our headquarters after Kevin’s attack on us. Bonnie definitely left a mark. There were damages only her explosives could inflict. I attempted to ignore the blood stains left from either our FF soldiers or the Ultimate Despair’s. 

Jadyn whistled. “I was damn lucky to go with you, wasn’t I?”

We parted ways to clean ourselves up, agreeing to meet up after, and went to our rooms. Before entering the headquarters, I dropped off my makeshift weapons. Nobody, besides Jadyn and those Japanese kids, needed to know what I’ve been doing on my probation. They’d probably order me to go to counseling again if they did find out.

I briskly made my way to join the other branch leaders in the meeting room. When I entered, everyone’s conversation slowly died down and they proceeded to watch my every move as if I was going to spontaneously throw a shuriken at them. Ignoring their stares, I sat down next to Ray and Celeste, who were basically my only friends here at FF.

Kaitlynn was the first to break the silence. “Nice of you to join us, Thao.” Without saying anything, I turned my head away, smiling smugly at the fact that she was bandaged in multiple places. 

“If that’s everyone,” one of the other branch leaders, whose name I forgot, began. Brandon? Bob? “we’ll start the meeting. First off, the attack from the Ultimate Despairs has caused some setbacks in our plans. We believe that it was spurred on because of Terry’s death. Some sort of revenge.”

I roll my eyes. “Oh c’mon it-”

“Well what do you expect us to believe, Thao?” Kaitlynn interjects. “After his death, we were suddenly attacked by his friends. If you hadn’t killed him, we wouldn’t have been in this mess.”

“If I hadn’t killed him, Ray would’ve been dead.” I snap.

“Multiple people are dead now,” she counters, giving me one of her death glares. “Saving one person’s life resulted in numerous deaths.” Her comment evoked whispers in the group. Some frowned and others refused to even look at me. 

“You wouldn’t have cared if Ray died, would you?” I accused. “He’s my friend. What was I supposed to do? Let him die?” 

Kaitlynn paused, furrowing her eyebrows in concentration. “Yes.” She never wavered her brown eyes away from mine. She really is heartless, I thought. I clenched my hands underneath the table.

Ray cleared his throat awkwardly. “Let’s get back to the topic at hand. Bill, please continue.” 

“Right. Well, if you would watch on the screen here, it shows where we need to focus our repairs.” Bill continued his slideshow. “The most damage has been in the front. Bonnie-” Abruptly, Bill’s presentation started to falter. The slides began to flash and freeze up at random times. He began to hit the remote in confusion. “Sorry, I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Did you spill your coffee again, Bill?” someone joked. Bill flustered up, trying to fix the TV. I leaned my cheek on my hand, bored. These official meetings were never interesting. Especially if everyone was practically accusing me of everything that goes wrong.

“There we go,” Bill sighed in relief when his slideshow started up again. “As I was saying, Bonnie has-”

“Upupupu~”

“Can I finish my sentence?” Bill exclaimed. Everyone ignored him. Kevin had managed to hack into our system and interrupt our meeting. 

“I thought you said that Marianne was dead.” a branch leader turned to Ray. 

“She is.” he answered, puzzled at the current events. “I saw her body.”

Kevin chuckled maniacally. “I thought you guys would need some more despair. Not a lot of it seems to be affecting the Future Foundation.” 

“The fuck you mean there’s not enough despair?” Celeste growled. Good question. Like Kaitlynn pointed out earlier, we had lost a lot of our agents in the last fight with Kevin’s soldiers.

“Upupu~” was all Kevin replied back with before we heard all the screams of those in the killing game. The screams brought back what I have wanted to forget ever since coming to the Future Foundation. Everyone looked warily at us, the three survivors. 

“Turn it off!” I shouted at Billy who was frantically pressing the buttons on his remote control. “I said, TURN IT OFF!” My hands covered my ears, an attempt to shut out the screaming, but it was no use. Kevin had amped up the volume to its max, filling the whole room with bloodcurdling screams. To my utter  **despair,** when Billy unplugged the TV, the shrieks did not stop. 

Taking in account that I wasn’t the only one suffering from PTSD, Celeste sat in her chair, frozen in place. She was staring at the screen with wide eyes. Her face paled and she was starting to tremble. Ray had stood up rapidly, causing his chair to topple over. His mouth shut in a tight line. He was the one who handled his PTSD easier than Celeste and I. 

I ran out of the room, but the pained screams followed me everywhere. Every turn I made, every room I went to, I couldn’t get rid of my former classmates’ cries. I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but then Rachel started to cry.


	23. Ray: The Dead do Haunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which :(

Bill continued examining the TV trying to turn the sound off with no luck. I stepped into the hall and discovered that the sound was coming from the intercom system also, I didn't know we had an intercom. The computer room was one floor down so I jumped three steps at a time and then sprinted down the hall. Two of our communications officers were already at the computers trying to stop the transmission. 

“HOW DID WE GET HACKED?” I yelled over the screams.

“WE DID NOT SIR THE FIREWALLS ARE STILL UP!" 

“SO HOW IS THIS HAPPENING?”

“IT'S BEING TRANSMITTED FROM INSIDE THIS FACILITY!" The other officer yelled. 

I began running down the hall to our electrical systems room. As I was about to open the door a sound made me stop dead. 

“I haven’t even started yet, calm down, Rachel.” Thao's voice said. “Seriously, you don’t want to make this any more difficult than it is.”

“You don’t need to do this, Thao!” Rachel pleaded, “CELESTE! KEVIN! RAY! HELP ME PLEASE!”

Then Thao laughed. Sounds of muffled gasping echoed through the entire compound followed by violent coughing.

"A-are you crazy! I can't tell you guys anything!" 

More muffled choking

"Information, traitor," Thao said

"Thao, p-please!" Rachel cried. "I told you. It's c-confidential." 

“Why? Just tell me so we can freaking survive this school!”

"You're lucky this isn't anything else besides water," Thao spoke, "You get to decide: hot or cold?"

"What?" 

"You're going to decide if I'm going to pour ice cold water or, maybe, scalding hot water, because y'know, I'm nice like that." 

Rachel spoke in a raspy voice. "Y-you want me to choose what type of water you're going to t-torture me with?" 

Then the dialog ended and the screams continued. I just stood there taking in what I just heard. I knew Thao tortured Rachel but I had never heard her do it, it sent shivers down my spine.   


After a few seconds I composed myself and entered the room. The problem was pretty obvious, sticking out of one of the data banks was a small knife. The blade had special connections that attached to the data banks once embedded. In the hilt was a small transmitter with a blinking red light. After I pulled the knife out the light turned blue and stopped transmitting. When that didn't stop the screams I looked more thoroughly at the room. There were knives stuck in more data banks, the data cables, the wall, even one stuck in a computer monitor. When I left the room I had 9 of these weird knives. Even after that the screams continued. I went back to the computer room and found 6 more knives. When the final one was removed the intercoms finally stopped. Every soldier I passed on the way back to the rooms looked shaken. I decided to go check on Thao because I knew that attack was meant to hurt her the most. When I got to her room I found Thao curled up in a ball on her bed bawling her eyes out. 

“Oh god Thao, it's going to be all right.” I offered.

I sat on the bed next to her and gave her a big hug. 

“It's going to be all right.”


	24. Kevin: Surveillance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which i get exposed by two white girls and kevin decides it's time to pay a visit to a former best friend

Their trauma filled faces bring the most delightful despair. How they remember their own crimes at that school. Especially Thao. I hear the scramble and panic of the Future Foundation as they disable the singular device. I smirk, there’s so many others I’ve lost count. The devices the Monokuma planted both work as bugs and hackers. What an invention. I tune up the volume of the bugs and continue listening to the buzz of the despairingly boring one-note Future Foundation agents. I hear two young agents, girls probably, chatting up a storm.

“Miranda! I got picked to go siege District 7!” one squeals, “It’s my first mission and it’s like a huge one at that!”

“Oh my god! What the hell Stacey?” the other one huffs, “My first mission was retrieving corpses, it was like fucking disgusting.”

“ _ Like you two.” _ I think to myself.

“Yeah!” Stacey continues, “We’re leaving like later today! I heard it’s being headed by Branch Leader Celeste too!”

“Oh my frickin’ god!” Miranda grunts in annoyance, “You get to actually like work with her? She’s like legendary!”

“I know right? I heard a rumor that Branch Leader’s Thao and Ray are coming too.”

“I like fucking hate you, you know that?”

“Yeah, whatever! Jealousy isn’t a good look for you!”

I smirk, turning off the feed for now as I contact Nicole who, thanks to the late Marianne’s warning has already organized a force of Ultimate Despair and Monokuma.

“Nicole. They’ll be there today.” I inform her.

“I’ll be ready for them.” She replies through the feed.

I contact Kenya who’s still in the infirmary. “Any updates?”

“No.” she whispers back, “I’ve been fucking stuck in this shitty ass bed for far too long! And everyone’s come to check up on me! Of course dumbasses like the brainless Future Foundation would love my sister! They’re almost as useless and shitty as her!”

“Call me if anything happens.”

“Will do.”

As Kenya’s annoyed voice fades out, I turn back to the feed.

Nothing happens for a while until I hear the two girls again.  _ Dear God. _

“Oh my god!” Stacey screeches.

“What?” Miranda asks.

“Branch Leader Kaitlynn stormed in to Branch Leader Celeste’s planning session and like totes took over the entire thing.”

“OMG DRAMA.” Miranda gasps.

“Branch Leader Kaitlynn told Branch Leader Thao that she was like unstable and needed to see her counselor!”

“OMG and then what?!”

“Branch Leader Thao was like so fuckin’ angry, I think she was about ready to like stab someone!”

“Did you hear the rumor about her *ahem* time in the Central District?”

“OMG I so did!”

“Anyway, then what?”

“Branch Leader Kaitlynn told Branch Leader Ray that he was a failure of a leader!”

“OMG that’s like the biggest insult you could give to like the Ultimate Leader!”  
“Yah, and Branch Leader Kaitlynn told Branch Leader Celeste that she was like mentally unstable and disturbed!”

“Holy shit! Did Branch Leader Celeste fucking wreck her ass?”

“No but you should have seen her face!”

“Well are you like leaving now?”

“Yeah! Wish me luck! I got put on Branch Leader Kaitlynn’s squad! We’re going all in!”

“Kill some Ultimate Despair members for me!”

“Sure thing Miranda!”

I type a message to Nicole, “ _ If you see an annoying girl with Branch Leader Kaitlynn, please kill her. She’s loud, obnoxious, and I don’t even need to see her to know she’s a typical white girl. _ ”

_ “Probably gonna bring a Starbucks to the battle _ ?” Nicole responds.

“ _ If she’s that stupid, I have no words _ .”

“ _ I’ll have to thank her for the multitude of info for us. What do you think she’ll prefer? Gun shots? Disembowelment? Dismemberment? Or good old fashioned neck-snapping?” _

I laugh before exiting the conversation.


	25. celeste: white bitch stealing credit, and the fuck is this video?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which my depression comes to a head, and also i make a meta politician joke

The day had been abnormally long when it came time to start the siege on District 7's base. Jaymes and I were disappointed at the two or so people stepping up, from other branches, to come join us. So, I asked for help from Ray and Thao.

Not that any of us would be mentally stable, especially with what had happened, but it was nice to try.

"So, you in?" I asked. Thao nodded, still angry over humiliation and PTSD, and Kaitlynn aggravating her. Ray agreed.

"So I just get to snipe bitches?" he asked.

"Yep. Thao can... calm down first, Jesus Christ," I remarked. Thao was most definitely mad.

"I'm going to show Kevin he can't just pull out a move like that and get away with it!" she slammed the table. I sidestepped away from her.

"Alright. We'll go to District 7, Ray can get set up, and then we can start. Thao, you'll take your general, do your weird massacre thing, and your branch can pin down any soldiers firing out. Ray, your branch can help Thao's branch. I'm just going to hope-" I was cut off when Kaitlynn practically broke the door down.

"Nope," she exclaimed. "Thao, you're staying here. I am taking over this operation by council orders."

Thao groaned and Ray sighed. I quickly edged away from Thao before she could start swinging fists. These two…

"But why?!" Thao raged. "Is there a problem with what I'm doing?"

"There's a problem with you," Kaitlynn deadpanned. "And you need to see your counselor."

Ray and I glanced at each other. Kaitlynn was a pretty good fighter, and definitely less likely to kill than Thao. But we were up against Nicole, who'd snap necks in an instant. If it came to defense…

"Fine!" Thao stormed out of the room. Jadyn was waiting outside. Maybe they were off to the Central District again. Wouldn't surprise me, since I heard their date went well from a source in Central District. At least he was still friendly.

"So, Kaitlynn, your branch will-" I was cut off again when she showed me the report, practically shoving the piece of paper at me. I read it, with Ray looking over my shoulder. "Alright, or you've already got plans."

"Ray is assisting me and you have been ordered to stay out of combat, Branch Leader," Kaitlynn addressed me with a condescending tone. "As much as the council can rely on your assistance, your mental instability has made them think otherwise."

"Wait, what?" I asked. How... what? Where the hell did this bitch get that from?

"You look confused. Apparently all the devices have not been removed, as we clearly saw Branch Leader Loerke's failure at leading and your disturbed mind on the council's TV. We found and removed that device immediately afterwards."

Well, fuck. I didn't see that. And I thought the devices were all removed in Ray's search of the data room, and definitely played audio only. Probably Kevin, screwing with us once again.

"Now, let's get going. I don't want to stand around here any longer while Ultimate Despair is still running strong," Kaitlynn proclaimed as she stormed out of the room.

Ray and I shared another glance.

"Well, okay, bitch," I remarked.

"Yeah, I can see why Thao hates her now," Ray added on. Then he thought. "Failure of leadership?"

I shrugged. "Hey, you got better over time. Or at least you tried. And I guess some leadership's better than none. I'm sort of upset Kevin chose the one time that leadership didn't work out, but you did a good job other than that, I suppose."

"Let's just go, I'm not wasting time here or else Kaitlynn's going to steal headshots from me." Ray opened the door to leave and I followed shortly afterwards.

"...taking over the operation forcefully," I mumbled to myself as I crouched behind a barricade. "Disturbed mind? Where the hell does she get these words."

Ray was up on a rooftop, watching the building through his scope. What we were scouting out was Nicole's HQ, a huge gym with a shit ton of windows. There were a few silhouettes pacing back and forth in a few, lights were on, guns were being polished. They knew we were here.

Nicole suddenly flipped up onto the rooftop, watching us. Kaitlynn glared up at her, hatred boiling in her eyes. Man, Kaitlyn cannot chill. I sighed, pulling out a butterfly knife and spinning it between my fingers.

The door burst open and Ultimate Despair soldiers started firing down on us, Nicole disappearing back into the building. Ray picked off a couple as I sat behind the barricade. Jaymes hadn't come simply because he was training the three recruits who decided to join our branch out of pity.

Kaitlynn slashed past soldiers, leaving behind stragglers for me and Ray to pick off. The worst thing about this is that she's got three times as many soldiers as Thao and Ray's branch combined, so about four of them steal any of my targets and Ray only takes down twenty or so because Kaitlynn's soldiers shoot them down first.

And I was expecting this to be fun. Not complete and total domination. I don't notice that when I'm stressed, I tend to lose a bit of coordination and I cut myself twice. I put the butterfly knife back. There's nothing for either of us to do. This is boring as hell.

Apparently Nicole felt the same way, because she flipped off the roof, spinning past different poles embedded into the gym. Kaitlynn threw her spear and missed, nearly hitting Ray as Nicole laughed and swung past him, landing next to me and running.

"Kaitlynn-" I yell just as she disappears into the building. "Well, fuck you too."

I radioed to Ray. "Well, if you're having a grand old time, I think our job here is done."

"What job was that? Moral support?" Ray responded. I sighed.

"I don't really know. Let's just get out of here. We had zero to no part in this operation." The soldiers around me shifted nervously as Ray packed up and moved down. Most of the soldiers were scattered inside the building, searching for something useful.

Kaitlynn exited with a briefcase, double-checking it for traps. Ray and I had turned to leave when she called out and the entire building exploded outwards in burning light.

"Holy fucking shit!" I yelped, startled. The soldiers went to check on Kaitlynn (bitch wasn't dead, just stunned) and we both watched the building burn.

"Okay, well, Ray, um," I tried to make some sort of witty remark and came up with one. "Well, you didn't lead the operation and you aren't responsible for these soldiers' deaths since they're Kaitlynn's. And she said you failed in leadership but all your soldiers didn't just get wiped out by an explosion."

Ray sighed. "Stop making this day worse."

"Sorry."

He walked over, examining the briefcase in an unconscious Kaitlynn's hands. Then he opened it, looking inside. "Well, we've got more things to worry about. Another attack on our HQ, what they're going to play next-"

"-because they haven't screwed us over enough-"

"-and a potential siege. Damn," Ray ignored my interruption. "Obviously Nicole's one of Kevin's trusted generals."

I nodded, taking the briefcase from him. Then Ray whirled to face the soldiers. "Get her in the car. Radio everyone else who's still alive to go back to our headquarters. I'll be acting as your superior right now."

The soldiers refused to move, probably out of distrust and Kaitlynn's likely propaganda, and I smashed the hilt of one of my knives into his nose with a sigh, breaking something. "Seriously? You want to make this day worse? Fucking... Just go!"

The soldiers carried Kaitlynn into the only somewhat-intact truck in the area and as they drove off, I flipped them off. "Jesus Christ. This was just horrible. She walks in, takes the mission from me, insults everyone, sends Thao to her counselor, completely plans out a siege and leaves it little to nothing like what it should be, allows Nicole to escape, and gets herself knocked out in an explosion that kills most of her troops."

Ray motioned for me to get in a car and I gladly joined him. Jesus fucking Christ, this went horribly. 

All because white bitches be hating, I think. Man, if she was a politician, we'd be exiled from the city already.


	26. Thao: Counseling is a Lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which an inept counselor does not help thao

“So, what brings you here?” my counselor, Oliver, leans towards me, looking attentive.

“My punishment for killing Terry and the Future Foundation’s lack of trust in me.”

Oliver scribbled on his notepad and got straight to the point. “After hearing your recordings from the killing game, how are you feeling about it?”

“Fine.” I lied. There was no way I was going to tell a completely random stranger that I had been crying my eyes out. All I know for sure is that Kevin has some options here. Option one: waterboarding 101. Option two: Throwing my shurikens at him, blindfolded, until I hit him. Multiple times.

“That’s great.” He obviously misses the fact that I am not okay and continues on to flipping through his notepad. Oliver adjusts his glasses and looks at me. I come to the conclusion that Oliver has no skill or talent and got stuck with being a counselor. There is literally no joy in listening to others’ problems. It’s annoying. “What I’m planning to do during our sessions, Thao, is to work on your anger management. I find that yoga is one of the best ways to do that. Now if you could just follow my lead, you’ll find that you’re enjoying yoga more than you expected.”

Oliver gets out of his chair, walks over to an empty spot on the floor, and sits down on his yoga mat. Another mat—my mat, most likely—is placed behind his. How did I miss seeing those? I follow suit and sit on my mat. He instructs me to raise my arms up ‘to the sky and release my energy from my fingertips’ whatever that meant. This continues on for another couple minutes, but yoga isn’t controlling my anger; it’s boring me to death. There is no energy that I am releasing flowing through the earth and I am definitely not imagining myself rooted to the ground by becoming a tree. 

I slowly make sure that Oliver has his eyes closed, before rising from my yoga mat. “Right. Mhmmm. Energy through my fingertips.” I mumble closing the door behind me quietly. The only thing this counseling session has done was remind me that I haven’t seen Cherilynn in awhile. Everything has become so hectic recently that I hadn’t been able to check up on my best friend. 

The doctors and nurses, who escaped Kevin’s wrath because they were on the field, were on duty 24/7 attending to the injured. Cherilynn was laying in her bed, looking absolutely miserable. She hasn’t been able to do anything ever since both her hands broke.

“You look horrible,” I joked. Cherilynn’s hair, which was usually in a Dutch braid, was down and disheveled.

Cherilynn’s expressionless gaze turned toward me. “Don’t be such a bitch about it.”

I stepped back in surprise. In the year and a half that I’ve known Cherilynn, she has never called me a bitch. Even though I could be hard to handle at times, she never resorted to that. 

“Sorry, uh… I’m just a little… woozy from the medication.” Cherilynn must’ve seen my shocked expression to apologize so quickly. 

I slowly walked over to Cheriynn’s bedside. “You’re fine. I just wanted to check up on you. It’s been awhile.”

“I’m good. It would’ve been better if Kevin hadn’t attacked us.”

I nodded in agreement. If Kevin hadn’t attacked us I could’ve had just a little more of the Future Foundation’s trust, but nope. “Totally agree. I just got back from my freakin’ counseling session and it was the worst thing ever. He made me do yoga. It was a complete waste of my time. honestly-”

“Hate to interrupt, but how do you say… I don’t care without saying I don’t care?” Cherilynn asked. I hesitantly laughed, unsure if she was joking or not. “Can you check up on me another time? I… just don’t feel well right now and I need some sleep.”

“Oh, sure, I guess. Hope you feel better, Cherilynn.” I left the infirmary dazed and confused. That was weird. 


	27. Ray: A Storm is Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the Storm Arrives

That mission was a complete disaster. After our HQ being attacked, Celeste's branch getting wiped out, and now the Huntsman Branch gone, we have lost more than half of our soldiers. My branch was now the largest in the city, usually it is the smallest because I only use a couple high-skill squads. Now with all the death my soldiers that stay in the back of the fight and pick people off are surviving the best. But without any help we are not going to last much longer. 

That last mission had me particularly pissed off. Celeste, Thao, and I could have taken out that base no problem, instead Kaitlynn takes over and gets her whole branch killed. If the three of us were in charge we would have caught Nicole and never grouped our soldiers together in a hostile area. Every day I was losing more and more of my trust in the FF’s ability to lead. They need to start trusting the three of us because we are the only ones who truly understand. We all survived the hell that was the killing game. That experience strengthened us and gave us an intimate understanding of despair. Although it was a terrible experience it prepared us for the war we now waged against despair. None of the other leaders or generals seem to understand this. I just hope that after the last mission the FF let us lead again. 

Whatever they choose to decide, now it is time to go to yet another council meeting. Today we will review our remaining assets and find out what is in that briefcase. I am starting to dread walking through those red doors. Every meeting I have to dig through piles of bureaucracy to get anything done. After a while of listening to Celeste and Thao argue about what weapon is more accurate, knives or shurikens, the meeting began. 

I pulled the briefcase in front of me and looked at the latches, two bronze bars that held the case shut. I flipped them up and opened the briefcase. I was hoping that somehow the plans would have disappeared but here they are, right in front of me. The first thing in the case is detailed blueprints for a machine. There are also detailed notes about how the device will be used. The last thing in the case is a small GPS device. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have in front of us detailed plans for a machine, when activated this 5 feet tall, 4 feet thick machine will create a dust storm that will effortlessly rip this entire city apart.” 

The entire room fell silent as terrified looks spread across the councils faces. 

“I believe that we intercepted these plans before UD was able to build this machine.“ Thao said trying to lessen the tension. 

We spent the next hour studying these plans and familiarizing ourselves with this new threat. By this time side conversations had broken out and the tension had died down. While Celeste studied the GPS, Thao told me a story about a fight she got into after sneaking out of HQ when we were all still training. She was just wrapping up her story when the sirens began. We both rushed to the window and looked out at the central district. 

“These type of sirens warn people to find shelter when there is a storm coming!” Thao shouted over the sound. 

“But I don't see a storm!” I yelled back. 

Then sand started to rise up around the central district, it began to swirl in a circle and rise higher. 

“HEY GUYS!” Celeste yelled from the table. “The GPS just turned on and it is tracking something right in the middle of the central district.” 

“What does that mean?” 

“It means someone turned on the machine. I guess UD built one after all.”


	28. Kevin: Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the corpse wall makes an appearance

"Remind me why we did this again?" I mutter.

"Something that Kamukura brought up." Curt responds.

I patch up another side of a wall as we deal up our base so the dust storm won't affect us.

"Oh yeah." I recall, "Kamukura-kun said Souda-kun made it!"

Our base shakes as the dust storm begins, through our cameras installed in the central district, we watch as the dust begins rising along with the panicked cries of alarm.

"That should calm down some of the gang violence." Bonnie smirks.

"Yeah!" Melvyn chimes in.

"Now then, shall we see our prisoner?" I smile.

"Let me go!" Cherilynn screams as she pulls on the chains that tie her to a pole.

"Do you really believe that if you keep screeching that, we'll let you go?" I roll my eyes.

"S-shut up!"

I shrug, "Let's have some fun then, if you're getting antsy from being stuck in this room."

She raises a brow.

Cherilynn's screams are ear-piercing as I take off the blindfolds we had put around her eyes. She's tied to a chair that is dangling outside of our base, 30 stories in the air.

I wave, "Have fun!"

She screeches and shrieks as the resulting wind from the brewing dust storm in the central district flings the chair around. 

The citizens of the Central District scream and cry as they attempt to flee. Future Foundation agents have built a barricade, preventing anyone from leaving but the massive amount of people have broken past that impromptu wall and fled into the other districts, ripe for the slaughter. I notice as I watch from a Monokuma's camera that some citizens flee underground for salvation. Interesting, I'll have to check on that later. Bonnie's bombs blow up a part of the barricade, taking out citizens and Future Foundation members. Citizens scramble for gas masks as Curt's poison spreads throughout the dusty air. Melvyn guns down fleeing citizens. Monokumas charge through the city, their bloody claws slicing everything apart. Some gangs have fought back, their improvised weaponry proving some difficulty. No matter, they're soon overwhelmed by the massive amount of Monokumas that charge them. Nicole charges a gang and takes out half of them, despite the fact that she is weaponless. The other half are choked to death by Curt as Nicole runs off. Monokumas await any fleeing citizens as evident by the screams of terror coming from the other districts. I grimace as the dust storm grows in intensity, knocking buildings down. I leap from my position to the next building roof as dust flies everywhere, obstructing my view. I pull out a small device that came with the dust machine, I press the location of the Future Foundation's base and smirk. They're in for hell. As the dust storm moves on, I'm joined by the rest of my generals.

"How are we going to keep the Future Foundation out from this district?" Curt asks.

I smirk, "I have a few ideas."

"And done." I grin.

Surrounding the entirety of the Central District, are corpses, you could say, a wall of corpses. Monokumas stand at guard on both sides of this corpse wall. Any survivors of the dust storm are traumatized and horrified as they view the scent of blood and death envelops their home. The tortured last expressions of the dead that fled this city and were slaughtered as well as the foolish Future Foundation agents who attempted to defend this place are now put on display.

"That will keep the Future Foundation out for sure." Bonnie laughs.


	29. celeste: the War Rig, or our bitch-ass truck of death and badassery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the mad max references Begin
> 
> and here is where we get to the white racism.

The storm of black-brown dust swirls around District 9 as everyone camps out inside the Future Foundation HQ. 

“So… what the hell just happened?” I asked. Ray shrugged, and Thao glanced at the windows.

“It seems like the UD just built a huge storm machine and trapped us in our own base,” Kaitlynn remarked from behind us. I jumped with a yell.

“Jesus FUCK lady stop doing that!” I yelped, nearly slapping her. Kaitlynn dodged out of the way, expecting the blow. Thao and Ray turned, obviously as startled as I was. Personally, I was seriously done with this bitch.

“So what, we can’t just break the machine to stop the storm?” Thao asked. Kaitlynn shrugged.

“Well, we could, if we weren’t trapped inside of it,” Kaitlynn deadpanned. 

“Then what the hell do we do, O wise and powerful leader?” I questioned, glaring at her. “Because then it’s fucking obvious we’re getting nowhere trapped in here.”

Ray glanced outside. “It doesn’t look too bad now. If we wanted to leave, we should do so now.”

“Um, yeah, because we’re in the middle of it,” Thao sarcastically remarked. “Unless you’ve got a way to get us out of the dust storm.”

Ray walked out of the room, yelling something to Sophia, before returning. “We could drive a semi through it,” he suggested when Kaitlynn gave up trying to recruit us for, what, the billionth time? No, we are not peaceful people, and no, Thao will never stop killing people, and no, go away.

“An actual semi? You found an actual semi, after the Tragedy, and brought it back to base?” I asked. He nodded, grinning.

“Yep, and we’re going commando on it.” Ray motioned for us to follow him. “We’re gon’ Mad Max this shit.”

“What the hell is Mad Max?” I asked.

“A movie. Don’t question it,” Ray responded, seeming insulted at the fact I didn’t know what Mad Max was. "because everything's about to get badass."

When we entered the garage where the Future Foundation kept their vehicles, we saw the semi. “Measurements. Sophia?” Ray asked. He had this shit all planned out, damn.

“80 feet, 18 wheels. There’s a lot of plating on it, probably a money transport automobile stopping in Piketon. Also had to make some fast deliveries, since there’s a 600-horsepower racing engine in there. Other than that, it’d get us pretty far. All we need to do is outfit it for the dust storm,” Sophia explained. “Which probably means extra armor, a couple machineguns, that sort of thing.”

“A couple?” Thao asked, grinning almost as widely as Ray was now. “How about ten?”

I slammed my hand against my head. “Yep, this is why I’m hanging out with you guys. Might as well add a ram and a flamethrower while we’re at it.”

“Do we even have a flamethrower in here?” Jaymes asked, walking up next to Sophia. He must’ve overheard our conversation. Jadyn followed shortly.

“You’ve been part of the Future Foundation longer than I have. You tell me,” I responded, sarcasm dripping from my words.

Jadyn laughed. “We can make one.”

The next couple of hours we spent welding more plates onto the semi, taking out the cracked glass in the front and replacing it with a police car’s windshield, and in general making it fit for traveling through the dust storm. We had about twelve guns fitted on there when Thao was done with it, and I got a large piece of bent metal which basically equated to the ram in question. Jadyn was sitting above Thao’s nest of guns on the top of the tractor unit, the two flamethrowers besides him.

“So, let me get this straight. In about four hours, we built a death tower on top of a semi, made it look good, armored it, and now we’re going to drive into a dust storm and hopefully kill a couple of Ultimate Despair members. Sound about right?” I asked.

“Change ‘couple’ to ‘hundreds’ and you have the idea!” Thao yelled, laughing maniacally at her gunner’s nest. Jadyn offered her a high-five. I walked back towards the door to put away a wrench just when Kaitlynn decided to ruin the party.

“Nope-” I whirled, clocked her in the back of the head, and then stopped when she dropped.

“The white bitch just got fucking shut down!” I laughed, dragged her behind the door, smacking her again for good measure.

“Tie her to the front of the truck!” Ray yelled out. 

“Okay that’s a bit too far!” I responded cautiously. “As much as I want this white bitch getting shot, the council would NOT approve!”

The soldiers on the truck groaned.

“... alright, as long as you shield her so she doesn’t die,” I sighed. Cheers emanated from the truck. “Why do I agree to these things.”

And so, our truck of about thirty loyal soldiers plus us and our generals (and one slightly unwilling hostage) was ready to catapult through a dust storm and whatever lay beyond. Because fuck planning.


	30. Thao: FURY ROAD

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the War Rig sees ACTION

“I’m driving,” Ray called, hopping in the driver’s seat. “That’s non-negotiable.” 

I shrugged as long as I had control over the machine guns, I was fine. Everyone found themselves seated behind automatic machine guns, preparing for the dust storm. I patted Kaitlynn’s cheek as I walked past her. She was going to enjoy this.

When each person put on their gas masks, they also had to put a bandana over it to prevent sand from coming in. After everyone was done, Ray shifted the gear into drive and then we were off. Nothing could have prepared me for what was ahead.

Sandstorms. It just had to be sandstorms. It couldn’t be a thunderstorm or maybe even a tornado, but a sandstorm. The winds howled around us, carrying everything with it. There was sand  _ everywhere _ . Whirling brown sand immediately surrounded us when we were out in the open. The defense armor around us did not provide any protection against the rough, wind-blown sand. The only reason we could see where we were going was only because of the tracker in the briefcase Ray had found in Nicole’s base. 

Ray was wasting no time. He was having a blast driving the semi truck and was accelerating past 70 mph. I readjusted my bandana, keeping an eye out for any UD soldiers. In no time, some sort of wall was approaching rapidly. As if we weren’t going fast enough, Ray floored the engine. The semi truck’s ram allowed us to easily plow through the wall, crushing the dead bodies making it up. I watched as blood oozed out from the deceased bodies as the 50-ton semi truck passed by. 

“UD soldiers to the left!” Jadyn yelled. He had to practically scream over the wind because of how loud it was. Different varieties of machine guns turned to where Jadyn pointed and fired. My minigun was firing hundreds of bullets every second. It was exhilarating. Ultimate Despair soldiers scattered out of the way, trying to avoid getting shot. 

“Goddammit! They’re climbing on board!” Celeste screamed just as the first Monokumas made their appearance. The Monokuma bears clung onto the speeding semi with their blood-stained claws, cackling as they went. 

“ **Upupupu** ~!”

“Shut the fuck up!” Celeste shot at the ones approaching the truck. Monokumas were dropping like flies with our automatic weapons, but they were still coming in hordes. It was like watching ants crawling around on the ground. The robotic bears clawed at our trailer, aiming to dismantle it somehow. Jaymes and Jadyn targeted the Monokumas with their badass flamethrowers and burnt them to a crisp.

Our plan was simple. Basically, fire at anything in sight that moves (and hope it wasn’t a civilian). This was our time to take down as many Ultimate Despair members as possible. Other UD members who were smart enough to stay out of reach of our firing range decided to give it a go and aim for us. The metal armor surrounding us clangs every time a bullet hits. 

One Monokuma lunges in front of the semi, obstructing Ray’s field of view. Sophia leans out the window, pistol in hand, and shoots at the bear. The Monokuma collapses onto the ground, twitching with its wires out.

A piercing scream reaches our ears. Looking left and right, I don’t see any civilians in sight. Who was that? The scream comes again and again. That’s when I remember we had tied Kaitlynn to the front of the truck. Which was a brilliant idea. With the armor in place, I couldn’t see what was going on that well. What I did know for sure was that it was a Monokuma. There was no mistaking the black and white figure. 

“Someone help her!” A soldier cried out. Sophia was leaning out the window again, shooting. This time wasn’t so lucky. Every shot she took, she missed the bear, and she was a good shooter. Kaitlynn screamed again, but this time it suddenly stopped. She was dead. The Monokuma moved on, making its way over to the top of the trailer where we were. Sophia opened fire again. This time, she killed the Monokuma. 

We were blazing through the city, killing every UD member and Monokuma bear in sight. Kevin and his generals were no match compared to our new machine. We should’ve honestly built this a long time ago. It would’ve saved us a lot of time. Ray stopped the engine in front of a worn down warehouse. UD soldiers spilled out, but we ultimately massacred them. After Ray assured us that it was clear, we made our way down the truck. 

“Let’s shut this thing down.” Ray commanded, leading us into the warehouse.


	31. Ray: All in the Back of the Rig

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which we shut down the machine

“Okay I want four soldiers on the guns keeping guard. DO NOT let any living being touch this rig. Sophia, you're the only one I trust enough to drive this thing so stay behind the wheel in case we need to make a quick getaway.” I ordered.

Celeste, Thao, their generals, and around 25 soldiers followed me to the warehouse doors. I checked the GPS one more time to make sure we were in the right place. 

"Ok everyone guns at the ready, i'm going to count to five and open the door. I want two soldiers to enter first and scan the area. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5." 

Two soldiers pushed past the door and disappeared inside. After a pause of around eight seconds the soldiers sounded the all clear. The rest of our group entered the warehouse and scoped out the area. It had old light hanging from the ceiling that flickered on and off. The floor was dirt that looked like it has been well traveled. The warehouse was almost empty except for a few shipping containers in the back. In Front of an open container sat a large machine that was blinking and whirring. I slowly approached the machine, note sure if it was safe. When I got within 20 feet of the machine another container creaked open. A small figure stumbled out and collapsed onto the dirt. It had cuts all over its body along with a few other serious injuries. The figure rolled over so we could see its face as it croaked.

“Help me.”

The figure lying before me was Cherilynn. Thao rushed over and knelt down next to her friend.

“What happened to you and how did you get here?” Thao asked.

Cherilynn had passed out and was no longer moving. Thao and some other soldiers carried her outside to the rigg. 

“This makes no sense,” I reasoned, “she was at HQ before we left, how did she get her before us?” 

Just then the machine made a series of beeps and showed a message on the display. [The storm has reached level 5 approaching maximum mass] 

“Ok let's shut this thing down now.” Celeste ordered urgently. 

Jadyn slowly unscrewed a panel and opened up the machine. Inside there was a myriad of colored wires going in all different directions. 

“This is going to take me a while.” Jadyn uttered. 

After a few minutes of watching Jadyn I heard gunfire coming from our rig, the back doors of the warehouse burst open as Bonnie and Melvyn burst through. 

“FIND COVER AND PROTECT JADYN!” 

Everyone scattered and jumped behind various containers. Melvyn fired his shotgun in Jadyn's direction hitting the dirt to his left. Various soldiers returned fire causing Bonnie and Melvyn to find cover. Bonnie popped her head out and threw a grenade towards a group of soldiers, Two fell to the ground dead as one screamed in pain. A 4 inch long piece of shrapnel was sticking out of his right calf. 

“ALMOST THERE!” Jadyn yelled. 

Bonnie popped out again and threw another grenade at Jadyn, I aimed my pistol at the grenade and fired twice, the second shot hit it and made it explode in mid air. While Bonnie and Melvyn were distracted Celeste charged in their direction, Thao came back through the warehouse doors and joined Celeste. Thao threw a shuriken at Melvyn's hand stopping him from firing again as Celeste whipped two knifes into Bonnie's legs. Thao kicked the shotgun out of Melvyn's hands and punched him square in the nose leaving Melvyn and Bonnie lying on the ground. The FF soldiers surrounded the two, preparing to shoot at the slightest movement. 

“Good job.” I offered to Thao and Celeste. “Throw those two into the rig, Thao has some… questions to ask them.” 

From behind me the machine made a loud beeping noise and powered off. Jadyn sighed in relief. 

As I drove the rig back to base I thought about the events that had just transpired. It was going to be a bitch to explain to the council. First, Kaitlynn had been killed by a Monokuma “while trying to infiltrate the central district separately from us”, then we found a half dead Cherilynn who we thought was fine at HQ, then we captured Bonnie and Melvyn and disabled a sandstorm machine. Our two captives, the machine, and Kaitlynn’s body “which we found by the side of the road” were all in the rig I was currently driving. I just hope that the FF finally gives us some credit. 


	32. Kevin: Axed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the mastermind admits mad max is a good movie and there's more google-translated japanese i'm sorry

"Well then..." I frown as I lie back in my chair.

"That stupid fucking rig!" Nicole snarls.

I shrug, "It is pretty cool though."

"They've captured Bonnie, Melvyn, and Cherilynn." Curt drones.

"Hmmm. Contact Kenya, she needs to convince them that the Cherilynn they found is Kenya."

"And what of Bonnie and Melvyn?" Nicole snorts.

I smirk, "It's time for a gamble."

"A gamble?"

"If it works, it should provide enough distraction that the Monokuma can rescue Bonnie and Melvyn. If not... well I'm sure it'll be amusing to see Thao get banned for 'asking' them some questions."

“What are you going to do?” Curt asks.

I type furiously on a small laptop, “It’s time for Round 2.”

As the rig returns to the Future Foundation base, the bugs go off once more as the memories of not only the killings that occurred at _that_ _place_ are aired but any and all videos that depict The Worst, Most Despair-Inducing Incident in the History of Mankind are playing as well, bringing back downright disturbing memories for all of the Future Foundation, who survived it.

“Now this is entertainment.” Nicole snickers as we hear the screams of horror from those reminded of their own personal tragedies in this apocalypse.

I send the order to a massive amount of Monokumas of all types to attempt rescue.

As Curt and Nicole amusedly listen to the trauma of the Future Foundation, I receive a report from the Monokumas and I laugh, "Looks like the corpse wall has been rebuilt."

"It'll just be run down by that rig." Curt mutters back to me.

"Shall we set up some measures to prevent such a disaster from occurring again?" Nicole asks.

I shrug nonchalantly.

Curt narrows his eyes at me, "You seem awfully calm about the situation."

"I have some investigating to do." I say avoiding the accusing stare he gives me.

As I leave our HQ at the Central District, I make sure no one is around before I begin laughing.

"はい、ちょうどあなたが何をやっているやり続けます。すべての皆さんだけで雑魚になったら！死ぬ運命にこの物語の側面の文字！でも私は、ちょうどスペックです！鎌倉くんのようにも誰かが斑点です！その売春婦純子江ノ島が住んながら結局のところ、我々はすべての小さな稚魚をしています。今はしかし長くはかからないだろう。すぐ順子江ノ島は彼女の愚かなくだらないAIとして、または純子江の島第二にその悪魔の雌犬の変換の深さのいずれかから、もう一度上昇します!”

I walk through the deserted streets of the Central District staring at the dead bodies of those foolish enough to not go into hiding once this district was occupied. I walk towards a small building where I saw people enter when we were occupying the district. The door is locked, windows boarded up. I kick the door open. There are screams of terror as it is revealed a group of about 7 adults are cowering in the single roomed building.

“And what brings you all here?” I smile in glee, “If you tell me why you’ve come here and what is so special about this place, I’ll let you all go.”

One man chimes up, “W-we came here for safety of course. It’s a small inconspicuous building! T-that’s the only reason!”

I frown, “Wrong answer.”

I open the pack I brought with me and bring out an axe, which I toss nonchalantly between my hands. The group begins shifting uneasily before I suddenly split the man’s skull with said axe, blood spurting onto all of the surrounding area, including me and the other 6 adults. I turn to a cowering blonde girl.

“Your turn.”

“I-I-I!” she stutters before fainting in shock.

I roll my eyes, “I always hated drama queens.”

I wrench the axe out of the dead man’s head and slam it into the unconscious girl’s chest, killing her.

I eye a buff male, wearing the insignia of one of the many gangs in the district.

“Will you give me a straight answer?”

He growls before flipping me off and making a run for it. He barely makes it out the door before he’s collapsed my axe sticking out of his back. I walk over to him and pull out the bloody axe and begin doubling over in laughter again.

“時には野郎の反応の全ては、あまりにも豊富です！私は助けるが、あなたの絶対に正常な反応の全てを笑うことはできません!”

One male seems to understand Japanese as he stutters in shock. I notice this reaction and approach him.

“You all disgust me!” I glare before my axe decapitates him.

The three remaining adults glance at each other before all making a run for it. Two are met by Monokumas walking around the district, torn apart in seconds while I throw my axe, it hitting the leg of the third adults, a middle-aged man as he collapses to the ground.

I drag him back into the room, “Mister, I’ll ask one last time. What is so special about this room?”

“The tunnels!” He cries, “The tunnels that connect all the districts are under this building! This is the most commonly used entrance!”

“Thank you.” I smile before wrenching the axe out, “You may go. Have a  _ wonderful _ evening.”

His screams echo throughout the room as the Monokumas charge, laughing their signature “Upupupupupu~”

I see the entrance he told me about before I smirk, time to play the part.

I stagger through the tunnels, having discarded my glasses in favor of contacts. One of my eyes is obscured by a bandage. Not soaked by blood though, giving the impression it is not in need of medical attention. The bandage pressed around my torso is, however, as I truly did have the Monokumas injure me so this plan of mine would work. As I walk through the tunnels, I’m intercepted by two adults, brandishing guns.

“Who are you!” one snarls.

“Turn back now and we won’t shoot you.” the other, seriously orders.

I manage my most pathetic and pitiful voice as I collapse in real pain in front of them.

“Please... help... me.”

The glance at each other before nodding and throwing me over their shoulders and carting me off.

I lie in a small cot, alone as the doctors of this sanctuary I’ve discovered have already examined my wound and left me be. I laugh silently. Once I knew of the tunnels and how many people had fled into them. I knew that some sort of safe haven would be built. I just had to victimize myself and be accepted into this safe haven. After all, I have a plan. And this plan of mine… I wonder how much despair it will plunge the Future Foundation into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> translated japanese notes:  
> first one - "Yes, just keep doing what you're doing. After all you guys are only small fry! Side characters of this story destined to die! Even I, am just a speck! Even someone like Kamakura-kun is a speck! After all, we're all small fry while that whore Junko Enoshima lives. It won't be long now though. Soon Junko Enoshima will rise once more, either as her stupid shitty AI or from the depths of that devil bitch's transformation into Junko Enoshima the Second!"
> 
> second one - "Sometimes all of you bastard's reactions are just too rich! I can't help but laugh at all of your absolutely normal reactions!"


	33. Thao: Discovered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the twin swap gets busted

I growled and clenched my fists. Cherilynn was held in Infirmary-A, as far as Kenya as possible with two guards at her side. Kenya was able to switch places with Cherilynn without our knowing. Who knows what kind of information she was able to receive from us. I opened the door to Kenya’s infirmary. She looked the same when I last saw her. 

“Wake up.” I slapped Kenya up the side of her head. “I need to talk to you.”

“Ow!” she yelped, rubbing her head. 

“Ms. Tran!” a doctor thundered, grabbing my arm. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave if you keep hitting my patient.”

“Sorry. I need Cherilynn to come with me. Council’s orders.” The doctor’s grip on my arm tightened. 

“I can’t let Cherilynn leave without a note from the head council. From what I heard, you’re the Ultimate Liar, correct?” 

“Listen, Doctor…”

“Dr. Sanders.”

“Right. Dr. Sanders. First, I’m going to ask you to let go of my arm when I’m asking nicely,” I warned. Doctor Sanders released his grasp and stepped back. “Second, I don’t have a note so you’re just going to have to trust me.”

The doctor let out a humorless laugh. “That’s not going to happen. Come back again with a note and then we’ll talk.”

Ray walked in, waving a piece of paper. “Got your note right here, Doc.” Doctor Sanders grabbed the note from Ray. His brows furrowed in confusion as he read it. Finally, he let out an exasperated sigh and allowed ‘Cherilynn’ to come with us.

“You should really come prepared, Thao.” Ray chuckled.

“How’d you get the note? The council wouldn’t have signed anything for us.” 

“Celeste is really good at forging signatures.” 

“True.”

“Are you going to tell me why I’m with you guys? Currently, injured right now.” Kenya complained. 

“Drop the act, we know you’re Kenya.” I snapped, pissed off that I hadn’t see it sooner. Kenya had been the total opposite of Cherilynn, but I had assumed it was because of the medicine she’s been receiving.

Kenya looked bewildered. “What’re you talking about? Of course I’m Cherilynn!”

“We found Cherilynn at the sandstorm site. Nice try.” Ray added, pushing Kenya into the interrogation room. We cuffed her to the table just like we had with Terry, but with more precautions. Not only did we cuff her hands, but we also tied her to legs to the chair she sat on. Can’t have another Terry incident again. 

“That’s Kenya! She’s putting on a damsel in distress act to access the HQ and you guys believed her. Honestly, you guys are great Branch Leaders. Allowing the enemy inside? Perfect.” 

I rolled my eyes. God, she was so annoying. “Didn’t I just tell you to drop the act? We’re going to check your hands.”

“No!” Kenya tried to squirm around, but there really is no use when you’re in restraints. Unravelling the bandages revealed perfectly clean hands. There were no scars or marks of a broken hand. 

“This is going well,” I remarked. “You must’ve heard that we captured Bonnie and Melvyn. I thought the Mastermind was supposed to be smarter than this.”

Kenya’s maniacal laughter filled the room. “We could spread so much despair from inside this HQ if we wanted to. The sandstorm was just a taste of what’s to come. Kevin always has a plan to spread more despair!”

“We should get a promotion or something,” Ray sighed, rubbing his temples. “We have to deal with this psycho Despair member. Plus, we rescued back the real Cherilynn and captured two other UDs. Some credit would be nice.”

“I know how you feel,” I said. “Let’s go interrogate the other members. I heard Melvyn was a cutie and I’m bored of her already. We’ll have Sophia or Jadyn stuff her in one of the cells.”

“You can’t ignore me like that! I should’ve killed you when I had the chance. Cherilynn deserves to die! You’re all going to die a slow painful death! Despair will follow you everywhere.” Kenya thrashed against the cuffs, causing it to dig into her wrists. She was already starting to bleed.

Ray nodded and walked out the door. I followed after him, ignoring Kenya’s wails.


	34. Ray: Torture and Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which more torture is performed. i'm so sorry

“You interrogate Melvyn and I'll deal with Bonnie.” I decided.

Bonnie's interrogation room was one left of Kenya's. When I opened the door I got the meanest glare ever. It was like she was trying to burn me with her eyes. 

“So how are you liking your new digs?” 

“This room is soooo great, why didn't I come here sooner?” Bonnie said in a mocking tone.

“Ok, I am going to put a map on this table and you are going to use this pen to mark the location of every UD base.” 

After a minute of drawing, Bonnie showed me the map. It now had a nice middle finger right in the middle of the central district. After staring at this for a few seconds I walked over to the camera in the corner of the room and turned it off, the FF would not approve of this. I slowly walked behind Bonnie's chair deciding how to make her talk. When I was in range of her cuffed hands she drove the pen into my leg. 

“SHIT!” I yelled pulling the pen out of my leg. 

“Sorry, honey, it must have slipped.” 

“OK, BITCH!” I said slamming my hand on the table. “I'm done playing around, tell me where your bases are right now.”

“I don't think so.” She muttered smugly. 

“I'll give you five seconds. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.”

I tore open the bottom of her shirt exposing her bandaged gunshot wounds. 

“Ohh spicey.” she said.

I removed the bottom bandage and looked at the wound. It was healing nicely but was still red and tender. 

“Just remember I don't want to do this.’

I dug my finger deep into her wound as she screamed in pain. Quickly I removed my finger and asked again. 

“Where are your bases?” 

Bonnie spit in my face and slumped back in her chair. I tore her shirt open more and removed the second bandage. This wound had not healed as well as the first and looked sensitive.

“You sure you don't want to tell me?” 

Bonnie just stared at a spot on the ground. I dug my finger into the wound and kept it there for several seconds. Bonnie's screams were so loud they began to hurt my ears. After I removed my finger Bonnie crumpled into her chair and tried to regain her composure. 

“Are you ready to talk?” 

An hour later I exited the room with my map, Bonnie had been able to mark the locations of three bases, her own, Kenya's, and Kurt's. She swore that those were the only bases she knew the location to. I met up with Thao who had learned information about troop numbers and defense capabilities. We were walking towards our rooms when an alarm sounded. 

“Monokumas have been spotted on their way to HQ.” The intercom said. 

“Oh brother.” Thao sighed. “Not this again.”

Apparently mowing down Monokumas in our rig was not enough so they decided to attack HQ this time. We ran to our rooms so we could pick up our weapons. A perk of being generals is that we get to keep our weapons in our rooms, the other soldiers have to check weapons out of the armory. After grabbing my favorite sniper and lots of ammo me and Thao split up, I went to the roof to scope out the situation. Hordes of Monokumas were tearing through the sand so they could get to our base. I assembled my best snipers on the roof and waited for the Monokumas to come within range. 

“For every shot you take I want a Monokuma dead on the ground!” I shouted. “Wait, wait, fire at will.” 

A round of shots sounded and twenty Monokumas slammed into the sand, dead. My bullet tore through one's head and then hit another in the chest. As the wave of Monokumas grew closer we killed machine after machine. When they got close enough other FF soldiers mowed down even more Monokumas. We had managed to thin out the pack enough that our base was not overwhelmed. The Monokumas that made it into our base were quickly dispatched by Thao and Celeste. Overall the attack was a failure, it only caused us the inconvenience of having to wade through piles of dead robot for a couple of days. We assume the attack was an attempt to rescue our prisoners or weaken our defenses but we don't know for sure. 

After putting my weapon away I decided to take a walk. 10 minutes later I reached my destination. I brushed away some sand, revealing a hatch in the ground. I climbed down a ladder and flicked on a light switch. Light after light illuminated my warehouse. A year and a half ago I found this place while doing a perimeter check. It was a huge warehouse almost completely covered by sand. It has a small hatch entrance and larger doors for vehicles to come through. Over the years I had outfitted this place with all sorts of weapons. I had a wall of sniper rifles, pistols, machine guns,explosives, various ammo, ect. I even have a selection of knives and shurikens for Thao and Celeste. All the vehicles I have collected have also made there way here. It has become sort of a hobby to find and salvage old vehicles. I had several heavily armored trucks, many small cars of various kinds, a couple of military grade helicopters, and my favorite, three more rigs. The rig we used in the storm was actually the worst one I had. I knew the FF would confiscate our vehicle after the storm so I made sure I kept the best for myself. These three rigs had various weapons that I have found or made over the last year and a half. I have even stored some canned food and bottled water here in case of an emergency. Basically I was preparing for war. The only thing is that I'm not sure who i'll be fighting, the UD is my main concern but the FF have done nothing other than interfere recently. For now I'll just keep this place a secret from everyone but if the time ever comes, I'll be ready. 


	35. celeste: sneakybeaky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which my depression and my adhd become co-morbid  
> also the stuff that gets mentioned at the end is relative to that side story i mentioned! what a world

There's a bit of subtlety to sneaking out of the Future Foundation headquarters at an unreasonable time of day. Like, 2 in the morning unreasonable.

The quiet darkness, occasionally lit by a still-smouldering fire, wraps around the entirety of Piketon. Smoke obscures the stars above, but it's not like anyone is looking up at them. I hoped that my "contact" is still on friendly terms.

I slid into a forgotten tunnel entrance, slipping down into a dead end. They should be somewhat close to the Underground District, or maybe even farther. I picked my way through the tunnels, looking a lot like a lone survivor in my old clothes. Clothes I'd had since the Killing Game, probably only useful for pretending to be a survivor. I shrugged the black backpack I'm holding up onto my shoulder, and begin to jog.

The Underground District isn't too hard to find. It's about half the size of the Central District, overrun with tunnels and poverty (called the Civilian class). Another circle about a fourth of that size is reserved for the Noble class, the rich, high, and mighty. I grimaced as I ran through abandoned alleys, my backpack bouncing. Then I came across the scene I heard of but was not expecting to see.

There's still a couple of bodies laid out in this plaza. There's bloodstains leading down an alley, where someone's lit a match and a pile of refuse to form a fire. Speared above that are cuts of meat and occasionally glistening bone.

I almost threw up at the sight as a few people walked away with blood and hunger in their eyes. God, cannibalism. Did it really get that serious? One looks sane enough so I decided to ask him.

"Um... What happened here?" I asked, pretending that I came down from the Central District.

"We've gotten food at last. Suggest you get outta here like the last guy. Down near 3, I heard," he mumbled, spinning the shish-kabob of human meat. 

"Thanks," I said, tossing him a bag of beef jerky. He caught it, yelled something to the waiting crowd, and split it open. I don't think I could stay much longer, instead running down towards District 3 with the image of a roasting body still firmly imprinted in my head.

I identified the raptor mask in the crowd of faceless gas masks exiting the city. I trailed him as he stopped in a dead end tunnel, near an entrance. He had a conversation with his sister, then she hesitantly rested as he finished laughing and started his watch.

"Hey, don't shoot," I stepped out, hands in the air. My contact sighed.

"No knives?" he asked, pulling the mask down to his neck. "I was expecting it. Customary of Future Foundation agents, huh?"

I laughed. "You want me to throw a knife at you?"

"No, but that would have helped as a greeting," he laughed. "So what are you here for?"

My grin faded slightly. "I need some information, Takada. Anything you can tell me."

Takada cocked his head slightly. "And you don't know anything?"

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Not a lot about the Undying and the state of Central right now. I guess."

Takada nodded, leaning back against the wall. "Alright. Ultimate Despair has taken out another HQ near District 2. The Undying, however, are planning on taking District 3, since the general's gone. I'm assuming your... ah, your friends... took care of that, right?"

"Yeah. Hearing Ultimate Despair generals scream in pain is quite fun," I said sarcastically. "Anyways, anything else?"

He shrugged. "Nothing else."

"Alright. I got some stuff for you, by the way," I remarked, shrugging down my backpack and stepping in further. Takada kept his rifle against the wall as I brought out a few clips of ammo and a box.

"The box is a gift for Hinami. Found your birthdays in the registry. Tell her I said happy birthday. The clips of ammo are for both of you. Don't get killed, alright?" I asked, smiling. "You're pretty nice. Sorry I had to ask you for information. I know you want nothing to do with the Future Foundation."

Takada nodded, pocketing the ammo and box. I saluted, and then left for aboveground, climbing past my contact and his sister. I hoped she liked the present.

And now, the task of getting across the Central District. I began to run, dodging through crumbled buildings and jumping rooftops. So... The Undying still want Central District? Maybe District 3?

Well, that was going to be really interesting to report.


	36. Thao: Badassery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which we yeet the war rig at more HQs

It only took an hour or two to get everyone ready for another siege. Honestly, we were on a roll. Capturing Bonnie and Melvyn allowed us to get information on three other HQs and now we were going to take them over. Ray, Celeste, and I were only granted permission to be a part of this mission only because Celeste went to talk to the council members. She was their favorite compared to us. I doubt they would’ve allowed me or Ray.

“Alright, let’s get going! I want to kick some UD asses,” I sang out, adjusting my shuriken straps. We were on our way to take over District 3 since Melvyn wasn’t there to protect it. This siege was going to be a piece of cake. 

“Hell yeah. It’s going to be like when we were in Central District,” Jadyn chimed in. He was sharpening his machete as he walked past. The white blade gleamed under the lights. 

“What happened in Central District?” Sophia asked. She sat next to Ray. Those two were almost always together. Her dual pistols were at her side, ready to fire at any second. 

“Oh you know… checking out the gang conflicts and stuff. Might’ve taken out a few UD members when we were there,” I replied, purposely leaving out specific details. She didn’t need to know  _ everything _ . 

“Are you guys going to get in or not?” Ray deadpanned. His expression essentially told us that he was bored of our chitchat and wanted to head out. “Because I’m leaving with or without you.”

We hopped on one of FF’s truck. The council had confiscated Ray’s semi-truck. Since they couldn’t really punish everyone who was involved in the “War Rig” operation, this was their only way to really ‘discipline’ us. Sophia sat in the passenger seat, holding a map, directing Ray to District 3. The black tinted, bulletproof windows did not allow anyone outside to peer into the car or potentially shoot at us. Driving through the Central District was rough. Ray had to steer around multiple potholes and avoid fallen objects in the middle of the road. Finally, we arrived at District 3 HQ safely.

Ray turned around in his seat, addressing everyone in the truck. “My branch is going to head in first,” he said. “Celeste, you and your branch are going to check the perimeter since you guys will be stealthier than us. Thao… I guess you’ll come with my branch. Just don’t screw it up.”

I rolled my eyes at his last comment. “Okay. Sure, whatever.”

Just then, gun shots were heard from above. Ray cursed and looked out the window. “It’s not a sniper rifle that’s for sure. Get out of the car through Sophia’s side and take cover behind that door closest to us. It doesn’t look like there’s a sniper on that side. Stick to the plan and we’ll meet up on the second level.”

Everyone nodded. I dashed after Ray’s lead, raising my pistol. Someone shot at us from the stairs, missing completely. He ran away before any of us could shoot back, calling for backup perhaps. For UD members, they weren’t really good at aiming, I thought. We advanced forward through the building. Shots rang out once again. Sophia had shot down one of the UD members. I jolted with realization as I passed the fallen figure that these weren’t UD soldiers at all. They were part of the gangs that were scattered around the Central District. The gas mask he wore was an obvious indication of it.

I laughed out loud. “Oh this is easier than I thought. They’re just gang members.”

“They must’ve took over the HQ after we captured Melvyn,” Ray explained without turning back. His focus was solely in front, scanning for any possible dangers. “It seems they all escaped upstairs. Idiots.”

Sprinting up the stairs, both branches split up to cover more ground quicker. Shot after shot gang members were taken down easily. They were no match for us. If they had known who they were up against, they might have had their lives spared and left this HQ. I made my way over to Jadyn, his white machete decorated with blood. 

“Looks like this building is clear,” I commented. “Let’s go find Ray.”


	37. Ray: Champagne and Target Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which ray and his lieutenant get cozy and also shipping????

The FF have launched into full action mode. They sent the Huntsman branch to capture Curt's base, they also sent various squads from Celeste's, Thao's, and my branches to capture Melvyn's leaderless base. Both of those operations were successful, and all that is left are Kenya and Kevin's bases. Since the FF decided to not give us three any credit for the past few weeks I told Celeste and Thao that I had a surprise for them. 

After a few minutes of walking we reached a hatch, I uncovered it from the sand and swung it open. I climbed down first and turned on the lights, then I sat back and watched the expression on Thao and Celeste's faces. Both of their jaws dropped as they looked upon the warehouse. 

“How did you do all this?”

“Well I found this place not too long after we joined the FF and I've spent all my free time filling it up. For most of a year and a half I’ve been searching for old vehicles and fixing them up, all the weapons have been made or ‘borrowed’ from the FF. In the past few months my focus has been on making this place a possible base of operations. I built several rooms and a dorm. I also made some living areas. ”

I motioned to a table surrounded with a couch and some chairs. We all sat down on the couch and I pulled out a bottle of champagne. 

“I though since we have been doing such a good job and getting so little credit we could celebrate.” 

We spent the next half an hour drinking and reminiscing about our journey to Piketon. 

“You know I still have a scar from that fucking Monokuma.” 

“Stop complaining, Celeste had it way worse when she almost died from that fever.” I reasoned.

“Yeah, but I could’ve died from that cut!” 

While Celeste was looking over the three rigs, I decided to ask Thao about her general. 

“So what is the deal with you and Jadyn?” I asked

“What do you mean? We’re just friends.” 

“You're as much friends as Kaitlynn was nice.”

After a few seconds Thao said, “Do you remember when I went to the Central District after killing Terry?” 

“Yes.”

“Well one night after we had a run-in with a gang we had a… moment.”

“Is that what you call fucking?” I accused.

“NO fuck you.” she said as she hit me in the arm. 

We both laughed at that.

“And I'm not the one that's fucking their general.” 

“Are you talking about me and Sophia?”

“Yea, everyone knows that she has slipped into your room late at night.” 

“Whatever, I know you'd just love to see Jadyn shirtless.” 

After a little more talking, Thao and I joined Celeste and the weapon wall and took some target practice. It was surprising how accurate Celeste was considering the amount of champagne we all drank. Once the weapons were all put away the three of us sat on top of one of the war rigs and had a more serious conversation. 

“One of the reasons I built this place was in case we ever needed to leave the FF. We have enough equipment here to mount or own attack on UD without the bureaucracy of the FF. We should be able to take us three, our generals, and the most skilled, loyalist soldiers in our branches. I hope it never comes to that but you need to know that if it does we are prepared.” 

“We've seen that the FF is useless without us. If we left Piketon before defeating UD in this city then it will surely fall into despair.” Celeste reasoned.

“That’s true but if we stay with FF they are either going to lock us up or get us all killed.” Thao added.

“We should still plan on defeating despair in Piketon with the FF. What I’m talking about we would only do in an extreme situation. For right now the FF is still our best chance. If we ever have to use this place, everything will have gone to shit.”


	38. Kevin: Threats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Nise Namae shows up and then never gets mentioned again
> 
> also this gets mentioned again!

Nicole and Curt sat in the now very empty Ultimate Despair base.

“Well, looks like my base should be captured soon.” Curt yawned.

“Ugh. Where the fuck is Kevin?” Nicole snarled.

“He left, if it wasn’t apparently obvious.” Curt snarked.

“This was all his fucking idea!” Nicole remarked, “Why would he abandon his own plan?”

“Unless leaving was part of the plan.” Curt scoffed.

Nicole received a notification.

“Looks like Kenya’s troops have rallied under a new leader.” Nicole stated.

Curt laughed, “Welp, the Future Foundation will utterly destroy them with their rig.”

A small beep came from the main computer at the base as Curt went to check it.

“Monokumas are reporting three people above ground in the Central District” Curt scoffed.

“Looks like those fools are still as idiotic as ever.” Nicole remarked, “C’mon, I’m in the mood for killing.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” Yukanna Kyarakuta muttered.

“C’mon sis!” Hiro Kyarakuta groaned, “This is a good idea!”

“Why do we have to win back the favor of the Civilian Class?” Yukanna retorted, “Nothing we do will change their opinions of the Noble Class.”

“Perhaps not.” a third voice remarked, “But the Underground District is low on food anyway.”

“Yeah so there’s a benefit either way sis!” Hiro whined.

“Whatever, fine.” Yukanna groaned, “By the way, you said your name was what again?”

“Nise Namae.” Nise responded.

Curt and Nicole peered at the trio. Curt readied a can while Nicole stretched.

“I’m so fuckin’ ready…” Nicole smirked.

She launched herself at the trio, poised to break one of their necks. As if on cue Nise pushed the two others out of the way and dodged to the side as Nicole landed on the ground.

“The fuck?” Nicole snarled, no regular citizens had ever heard her coming and she was just as silent as usual.

Nise snatched the arms of Yukanna and Hiro and took off just as Curt’s gas cans rolled into view.

“How in the hell.” Curt muttered.

“Crap! Ultimate Despair members!” Yukanna shrieked as Nise dragged her and her brother along with him.

“Just keep running!” Hiro cried.

Nicole gave chase and being so athletic easily began catching up to the trio. She threw herself in the air and twisted readying her legs to knock the trio down. As she extended her leg, Nise’s arm grabbed it and flung her into a nearby wall. The trio continued fleeing as Nicole growled in rage.

Curt landed in front of the trio and sprayed, blinding them. Hiro and Yukanna choked and gasped as they were blinded. Curt prowled around them readying an actual poisonous gas as the trio stood blinded. Just as Curt uncapped his can, a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Curt heard a voice whisper in his ear.

“I wouldn’t do this if  **I** were you.”

“T-the fuck?” Curt snarled, “Who are-”

“I suggest you run...before I  **fucking wreck you and that whore Nicole.** ”

“R-run?”

“ **Leave Piketon... abandon your posts... there will be a slaughter... and it would be awfully** **_unfortunate_ ** **for you two to get caught in the crossfire.** ”

Curt felt a blade lightly touch his neck as his eyes widened.

“A-are you Ke-”

The blade pressed lightly to his throat, a small bead of blood appearing.

Curt dropped his can... eyes blinking in terror. He was pushed forward as the knife was retracted and as he stumbled, he fled, throwing down a can releasing simple smoke as he disappeared in the fog. The knife-wielder smirked.

“Upupupupu~”


	39. celeste: a short report

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which my lieutenant has more backstory spilling from his psychological scars and the twins bail

Well, that was new.

Intercepting Ultimate Despair communications has become an increasingly large part of my time now, and as it was, this was a very interesting bit of info to come across. District 5 was in a state of panic, the soldiers' chatter on the radios like static in my ears.

"Where's Curt?" One lieutenant's voice crackled in, tinged with some white noise.

"No one knows. All I know is Nicole's the only one who came back!" Another lieutenant hesitated before responding. "She's saying something about him taking off!"

"Gone?" the first guy asked. The frequencies slowed in wake of the information. "He... left us?"

"Yeah. Free reign!!" a third snarled. "His other bitch? She's ours. Damn that coward!"

The radio dissolved into static again. I sighed, pulling out. Nothing, nothing. We should run a raid over there, secure District 5.

Apparently, a few other soldiers of mine agreed. I had finally been able to bolster my troops, bringing the total of trained soldiers to about eight. Yep, going well.

Included in those agreeing, for the matter, was Jaymes. He was bristling, snapping at all the soldiers in his way. Not as bad as when I was mad, but close. I approached.

"Hey, man, you okay?" I asked. He frowned.

"No, not really. I heard of your plans to siege District 5, and I'm actually kind of glad!" He kicked the wall, punctuating his statement with a hole in a small patch of cheap plaster. I winced. "I get to kick that coward Quincey's ass!"

Okay, calm. "Jaymes, what do you have against Curt Quincey?"

He punched the wall, his fist colliding with the metal plating. "He used to be my friend before he left me to die! Just when the Tragedy started, he left me to a squad of Monokumas and fucking... joined them." His pause was solely because he remembered I was there when his fist whirled around. I caught it, lowered it, and led him into his room.

For the most part, I remember it. The whole candlelit altar for dead soldiers and others was still against the wall, his room was still painted a deep grayish-black. The only possible thing that could be new is the large weapon hoard he was collecting.

"Take it from the top, son, and I'll listen," I said, watching him. He took a deep breath, two, three, and then proceeded. I sat on his bed as he paced and told me about Curt.

"When I was little, Curt was the shy target of all those bullies in elementary school. I protected him a lot, and started finding ways to get back at those bullies quietly. Eventually Curt found his own way of doing it when he discovered the art of graffiti for the first time. He ended up spraying a few incriminating marks on their houses and their parents got arrested. It's funny how most of them work for him now... Anyways, when the Tragedy started, Curt had filled a can with knockout gas and threw it down just as I was being surrounded. He called something out and the Monokumas froze, then left, and took my supplies with him. That's all I know. He backstabbed me and left me for dead. So I sought out the Future Foundation to kill him."

Jaymes's entire rant ended. I was watching with a bit of interest. Curt must've just been caught up in it, resorted to the wrong kinds of methods. I see.

"Alright. Well, I don't think you'll be happy to know he fled," I said, standing up. "We're just picking up the pieces."

Jaymes nearly nicked my ear with the knife he threw. "Goddammit!!!"

I checked to see if I was bleeding. No, just very startled. "Hey, calm down. It probably can't get worse."

It did. Thao burst into my room, slightly disheveled but probably from the running she seemed to be doing. "Celeste... It's bad..."

I turned. "What?"

"Cherilynn and Kenya. They're both gone."


	40. Thao: Operation Endgame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the operation begins and HERE WE GO

“Goddammit, Cherilynn,” Celeste groaned. 

“It gets worse. Here.” I handed her the letter Cherilynn left behind. Celeste took the letter with an exasperated sigh, stress evident in her face.

“ _ I just needed to get away from the conflict. It was starting to get too much for me. I wish you and the FF luck in your battle against the UD. Cherilynn.”  _ Celeste read out loud. “Are you fucking kidding me? We’re about to go take Kevin’s HQ and hunt him down. She chose possibly the worst moment to leave us right now because it was getting ‘too much’ for her? Goddammit!” 

“It’s a possibility that Kenya’s disappearance is also connected to Cherilynn’s. They’re sisters in the end. I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Celeste dropped the letter in a trashcan as she passed by. “I don’t care if they’re sisters. Kenya’s an Ultimate Despair who is now able to cause more destruction now that she’s free.”

“Look, hopefully we’ll catch her, too, when we’re looking for Kevin. The FF soldiers are getting ready. You should get going; we’re leaving in an hour.” I informed her. Cherilynn’s timing was horrible, I’ll admit, but we don’t have time to worry about that now. Kevin’s disappearance gave us a slight advantage to finally take over Piketon and defeat the Ultimate Despairs. The only downside would be the fact that we can’t defeat Kevin until we’re able to locate him. He’s up to something I’m sure.

I arrived just as Ray laid out the plan to everyone who was joining this operation. It was mostly orders I already knew about. Don’t die, make sure to tell Ray once Kevin is spotted, look out for Cherilynn and Kenya, etc,. After his lecture, Ray pulled Celeste and I to the side. 

“Do you guys have any idea where Kevin could be?” he asked.

“It’s impossible to predict Kevin’s motives. I have no fucking idea. We could try interrogating Melvyn and Bonnie when we get back,” Celeste replied, mindlessly spinning her knives around. “I don’t think they’d tell us something, but it’s worth a shot.”

I shrugged. “Either way, with Kevin gone, it can’t be good. I want to find him as soon as possible before he can plan any more despair.”

Ray nodded his head in acknowledgement. “Alright, I just have to get something from my dorm and then we’ll leave. Keep these guys in check for me while I’m gone.” 


	41. Ray: End Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the day gets done

An engine revved as a hangar door slowly opened. Sand poured down and light illuminated the hangar. The second the door was fully open I slammed my foot on the gas shooting out of the hangar. I made a sharp turn throwing a wave of sand behind me. Beside me sat Sophia who looked ready for a fight, out my left window I could see Thao driving a semi with her general and out my right window I could see Celeste driving a semi with her general. We were headed towards district 1 where the FF had just began their assault. 

After a few minutes of driving we approached the final HQ. This was the last remaining base of operations in the city not under the FF’s control. As I watched the compound grow nearer, an explosion boomed, sending flames up the outer wall. It looked like we just breached the compound. After turning onto the main road I got a clearer view of the battle. The FF had formed lines of soldiers who were firing on the compound. Some were trying to take out the UD soldiers on top of the wall while others shot through the newly formed hole. I touched my earpiece, activating my mic, and prepared to enter a war zone. 

“Ok people I think it’s time we joined this fight.” 

Our three war rigs tore through the hole and opened fire on the approaching horde of UD soldiers. I swung my rig around and came to a screeching stop. The soldiers on top of my truck sent volley after volley of bullets into the mass of soldiers. Celeste and Thao followed suit and stopped their rigs. After a few minutes of constant firing all the UD members in the horde and on the wall either retreated or were killed. Three knocks sounded on my door and startled me.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing!” A council member yelled.

“We’re taking control of this operation. You're not going to win by arresting all these soldiers and only killing when you have no other choice. We are going to destroy this HQ and kill Kevin, then we quit the FF.” 

I started up the engine and started to drive further into the compound as the council member screamed obscenities at me. 

Our rigs made it to the main building with little resistance, the UD was not prepared for three war rigs. I opened my door and stepped out of my rig. Thao and Celeste came over to me as I pulled a bag from the back seat. 

“Ok time for the next phase of the plan. Make sure you plant your explosives in the spots we talked about.”

“We know where to put them Ray, don't worry.” Thao yelled over the sound of gunfire

I handed each of them a large amount of plastic explosives. After checking our weapons Sophia and I charged into the building. It was complete chaos with people fighting everywhere. We rushed through a hall shooting any Monokumas that tried to attack us. I planted my explosives on various pillars while Sophia provided cover fire. After planting my last explosive I checked my watch. 

“Only two minutes left, Sophia time to go.”

We rushed back through the hallways that were now mostly empty. After stepping over many dead bodies we finally reached the entrance. Celeste and Thao had already driven off in there semis so only one remained. I shot a UD soldier that was climbing up the rig and climbed into the drivers seat. After making sure all my remaining soldiers were on the rig I drove away from the building as fast as possible. Right as I reached the wall a huge explosion went off shaking the road. In my rear view mirror I could see a mushroom cloud were the building had been. 

Soon I rejoined Thao and Celeste and we all rode for the FF HQ.

“Report from HQ, sir.” A voice said in my earpiece. “Bonnie and Melvyn were just found dead in their cells. We also received a message that Kevin was spotted in the central district.”


	42. celeste: abandoned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which i kill my best friend because he was the mastermind of a killing game and was the pinnacle of despair in a made-up city

The day is done, really.

Four war rigs were surrounding the Central District, but I was the one to spot a refugee making a beeline for the exit the Future Foundation had made, and then trapped. The same refugee that had escaped the Ultimate Despair generals’ trap, caused Curt to flee, and Nicole to go try to murder the entirety of Central District. Intercepted transmissions labeled him “Nise Namae”, but I know better.

“Halt!” Jaymes yelled. The teen flips over the barricade, plants his feet on a soldier, and shoots into the helmet. “Dammit, halt!”

The teen shoots, grazes Jaymes with a bullet, and proceeds to wipe out the rest of the soldiers placed here. There are more resting in my war rig but I have to stop Kevin before he can do anything serious. Jaymes draws his sword and leaps down, to which Kevin responds with a perfectly placed cleaver. Their weapons clash.

“!” Jaymes pushes Kevin back, his sword glinting in the smoky light. “It’s you!”

Kevin obviously was not expecting us to be here but still sneers at us. “Well, if it isn’t Celeste. And her boyfriend.”

“Do you really have to resort to second-grade remarks?” I sigh, leveling my pistol at him. “I told you, I don’t care for romance. There’s still a job to be done.” Ray and Thao’s voices fill my earbud but I turn it off with a tap. Instead, I plug in my iPod, taking aim. Kevin slashes Jaymes, two silver knives flying for me. I dive out of the way, raise the pistol, and shoot. 

A small explosion of blood spurts out from his knee, dropping him before he can reach me. As a precaution, I shoot him in the hands as well.

“Time to end this, I guess,” I pull the hammer. “Anything else to say?”

Kevin laughs, slightly maniacally but mostly defeated, and manages to throw out a flash drive. Jaymes tosses it to me and I catch it before shooting him in the head. Jaymes stabs his body and slides it off a couple of feet away. 

“So what do we do now?” Jaymes asks casually.

“We get the fuck outta here!” I cackle, getting in the war rig. “Come on, we’ll meet up with Thao and Ray, and then say goodbye to the two-year shitstorm that was Piketon.”

The caravan of war rigs is imposing enough that no one really bothers it. Our loyalist soldiers are all laughing, playing various board games and card games. I bring out a laptop from the Future Foundation, wiped of all the residual programming that they plugged into it.

“So, what’s this flash drive again?” Ray asks.

“Something Kevin threw to me. His last words, I think,” I say, plugging it in. The video file starts automatically.

Kevin appears on camera, and smiles.

“So I’m assuming if you have this… I’m dead.”

He smirks, “I bet you’re surprised I know? Well, I’m a meticulous person, death was just one of my many  **many** situations that I planned in advance. You see, you might think this is going to be all sentimental and shit but, I’m not that  **fucking cliche** .”

He rolls his eyes in annoyance before turning back to the camera, grinning insanely.

“This is more of a warning...get the fuck out of Piketon. Shit’s going down and I wonder, if you escape this shitstorm of a city, what will you do? Where will you go? How long will your  **hope** last you in this shitstain world? Of course, I’ll be dead and I won’t be able to witness any of this, but I can imagine. And why should you leave?”

Kevin laughs.

“There is going to be a fucking uprising and the Future Foundation will  **burn** . Though I’m assuming that if you have killed me than you have forsaken the Future Foundation? Doesn’t matter, the Underground District citizens will still  **fucking murder you all** . After all I’m their beacon of hope. I’m Nise Namae, to them at least.  **Fucking dumbasses** .”

Kevin stares into the camera.

“And to them, the Future Foundation has just murdered their ‘hope’ in cold blood.”

Kevin cackles.

“Yes. Yes. One of my measures for the scenario where I would die is to film it all. It’s already been broadcast to the Underground District.”

Kevin becomes emotionless.

“So… I’m assuming that if you have killed me… and forsaken the Future Foundation… you already plan to leave this city. That’s good. I was  **hoping** that your story didn’t end here. It’d be  **fucking tragic** if it did. So, I’ll give you a hint.”

A map appears with one coordinate glowing.

“Go to this place.. and you’ll find something worth your time…”

Kevin laughs.

“It’s your decision whether or not you go… but think of it as a last request, from your dear old classmate…”

Kevin’s laughs turn into cackles as the camera fizzles out and the recording ends.

“... Do we trust him?” I ask after the video’s last seconds of black fade into large coordinates. The same on the map, I think. “I mean, he did sort of kill everyone in the school, caused trouble for us here, and mastermind our entire life from our freshman year.”

“I don’t know, but we have nothing better to do than entertain him,” Ray sigh. “Even if he is dead.”

Thao shrug. “We can take it.”

I input the coordinates into the small GPS sitting on top of the dashboard, grabbing it away. “... oh.”

“What?” the others ask. “Is it bad?”

“It’s the school.”

“So what’s even here?” Thao asks, her shuriken glinting in the light. Man, this place has aged badly. The remains of a couple crafted gators are scattered around, a few scraps of paper here and there. The roof’s caved in in some places, parts of ceiling and cheap plaster scattered on the floors. A bit of nylon flies through the broken windows and Thao laughs. “I’m glad that thing’s gone.”

“We all are,” I shrug, “I don’t know if there’s even anything here. Kevin doesn’t give instructions for this scavenger hunt. He just does whatever the hell he wants to, I guess.”

Ray shines a flashlight around. “That’s where the body retrieval was, from the reports. Should we just take a look around?”

I shrug again. “Why not? It’s nice to see this place, even if a lot of our friends died here.”

We split up, our generals following us through the old abandoned hallways. Occasionally something of interest, like a few still-active computers, grabs our attention, but there’s nothing of particular notice on them, so we pass them on. Eventually we reach the basement.

“Is it even safe to be here?” I ask, prying the elevator doors open with my knives. “Or even to be walking around? I still sort of hate this place.”

“It’s school. Everyone hates school,” Thao snarks. “Let’s climb down the cables here.”

Jadyn snickers but follows Thao down the shaft. Our group ends up in a somehow-lit-up hallway leading down into a terminal room. Suspiciously like Rachel’s FF communication room.

“I’m exporting all the data on this computer out. You guys look around,” I say, typing commands into it. The entire Future Foundation database is in here, some sort of hacked-in route to all the intricacies and data available to the highest positions, as well as Kevin’s various notes. Most of them are humorous in a sarcastic way, but some are actually kind of useful. When it finishes, the others call me over.

“You might want to see this,” Thao says, obviously looking traumatized. I peek around the corner and stop.

Thousands of blood-drenched corpses are stuffed into the room, all frozen with decaying arms reaching out towards us. When Jaymes pokes the pile, blood spurts out and paints his sword red. The three of us are terrified out of our minds. This is where all our classmates went, people we really never went out of our way to know. Teachers we never learned anything from.

I don’t really notice we’re out of the building until the war rig flies over a hill. We’re way past the city limits of Piketon, speeding away. Ray snapped out of it the fastest, and now his foot is slammed down on the gas pedal as we veer into a dirt road off of the highway. A black truck speeds past us on the highway, ignoring the entire caravan parking in a spot formerly reserved for campers. Thao refuses to look at one of the rigs, obviously still caught on the whole school. I clear my head, walking outside into the forest and glancing around the trees. There’s no clearings available for me to do anything with some of our cargo, but it’s a welcome break.

Our caravan continues after about half an hour, fleeing the death that will soon push survivors out of Piketon and the clutches of the Future Foundation.


	43. Epilogue 1: Everything Is Totes McGotes Fine! :D

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which an actual epilogue is presented

The dust settled over Piketon. Ultimate Despair, which had ravaged the once prosperous city was no more. The deaths of Terry Bryon, Marianne Darla, Bonnie Marinella, Melvyn John, and the ringleader Kevin Han as well as the disappearances of Curt Quincey, Nicole Adriano, and Kenya Émeric signaled the disappearance of Ultimate Despair in Piketon. The Future Foundation celebrated their victory while mourning the deaths of their elite such as Kaitlynn Sarah who had died in mysterious circumstances during Operation: Storm Stopper. The Future Foundation also mourned the “deaths” of Ray Loerke, Celeste Kong, and Thao Tran, along with their respective generals Sophia Zane, Jaymes Malachi, and Jadyn Blaine. The mysterious disappearance of Cherilynn Émeric resulted in a month long search, yielding no leads or results, leading the Future Foundation officials to declare her dead. The Monokuma suddenly deactivated with the death of Kevin Han and the corpse wall surrounding the Central District was slowly taken down, though much of the previous population had refused to return to the surface and stayed underground. 

The Future Foundation investigated the disappearance of the two Kyarakuta heirs as their influential family in Japan demanded they be found, promising funding if the mission was successful. Much to their chagrin, the twin heirs were nowhere to be found. Trouble was brewing as an influential name rose from the Underground District. Nise Namae, said to be the beloved member of the Underground District was said to have stopped the conflict between the Citizen and Noble classes and united them. Naturally the Future Foundation wished to meet Nise but discovered he had been murdered during the end of Ultimate Despair in Piketon. To the Future Foundation’s horror they had discovered that the citizens of the Underground District  **despised** them. Anger had festered in the citizens as they raged that the Future Foundation had failed in their duties to help them. To add to that, it had been broadcast to the Underground District how their “hope” had been murdered by the Future Foundation. This anger swelled into hatred as slowly the citizens of the Underground District rebelled, murdering any Future Foundation agents they could get their hands on. 

The Future Foundation, still riding the high of victory against Ultimate Despair was woefully unprepared as they underestimated the might of the desperate. It was not long until the revolution, which had dubbed itself the Restoration Revolution, slowly forced the Future Foundation out of each district and surrounded the Future Foundation base. The arrogance of the leaders stationed there was shown as they refused to surrender. Subsequently the Restoration Revolution invaded their HQ and burned it to the ground, imprisoning any survivors. The survivors were subsequently publicly executed to cheering crowds. The Future Foundations in other places were horrified but due to their non-violence agenda and problems with the “Remnants of Despair”, they were helpless as the Restoration Revolution rebuilt their destroyed city, living peacefully and in sovereignty.

Celeste, Ray, and Thao along with their generals had left the city, even picking up some girl named Lacy along the way which Ray claimed he was  **very** good friends with. They had no idea where they were going… but they were united against the despair of the world. The despair they had gone through at the school and in Piketon was oppressing but they had enough hope and enough of a “totes done with this shit” attitude that would serve them well in the future. Their badass rigs rode off into the distance, with them all laughing and cursing like sailors.


	44. Epilogue 2: respect the dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which my dumb ass wrote a sentimental epilogue

“Hey, look at this,” I laugh. “We got you a nice place to be, huh? Well… um… I don’t know. Wish you guys could see me in fancy clothing. You’d probably all be startled or something. I don’t know. Never really got to know you all well.”

“Brought some flowers,” I lay down a few flowers. White alstroemerias. “Y’know, I really wish we all didn’t have to go through this. At the risk of sounding  cliché, I guess. This is… kinda awkward for me. I mean, I’ve never really given eulogies before, or even paid my respects. All I usually do is stand awkwardly and pray in my head for souls of people long gone. And I might be ranting, but I’ve developed that kind of habit, I guess.”

I glance back past the black iron fence. There’s a black semi waiting for me, the war rig I drove over to this. “I’ve done a lot, y’know? Turns out it was all an organization called Ultimate Despair behind the scenes. Pretty sure Julianna was in it, at the very least. But it’s alright. Even though you were sort of crazy, I guess you were a pretty nice person too. Then again, so was Kevin, and he was the one behind this.”

I cough. A slight shower has formed, but I don’t really care. “This is probably the first time I’ve worn a suit, eh? To go pay respects. We found those fences, made our own little graveyard for you guys. Would be better than mass cremation, huh?” It’s occurred to me that it sounds like I’m crazy, but I don’t care. It’s sentimentally important to me.

“I was thinking of planting some alstroemerias here. Friendship and devotion, apparently. Who knew?” I kneel down, wiping away a few raindrops so I can see the plaque on the gravestone I’m closest to. “Especially you, Rachel. Sorry we fucked up. Genuinely. All of you guys, I need to apologize for. I know Ray and Thao and I did it back a couple months ago, but I just… feel I’ve got more dead to respect, you know? Since my dad died… killed by Kevin, just like you guys were.

“Anyways, I gotta get going. I’m building an outpost here. It’s pretty close to Piketon, the city that’s in war for the third time, so some people might be coming soon, and we gotta give them homes, I guess. Kindness does wonders, they say. Well, look at Thao.” I smile. “Past the fact that this outpost’s also going to be pretty close to the school, but that’s not important right now. I’ll come back in a month, I suppose. Maybe I can get Ray and Thao to come pay respects again. Hope you guys are doing well, wherever you are.”

I leave for the rig.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for getting through this series! if you want more of my writing, see my account! if you want more of my friends' writing, unfortunately we didn't do anything else except for rise of the dead, so it do be like that


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